*Opera Ebony's founding is celebrated on this date in 1974. Opera Ebony is an African American opera company that has performed in various programs and venues.
Benjamin Matthews, Sister M. Elise Sisson, SBS, and Wayne Sanders founded Opera Ebony In New York City. Opera Ebony has performed at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the World Trade Center, the Beacon Theatre, Langston Hughes Theater (Schomburg Center for Research and Black Culture), and the Manhattan Center. Additionally, the company presented grand opera for ten years at Philadelphia's Academy of Music.
Since 1988, Opera Ebony's repertoire has included Brazil, Russia, Estonia, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Canada, Switzerland, and Martinique. The company has partnered with several major international orchestras, opera companies, and music festivals, including the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, the Finnish National Opera, the Estonia Philharmonic, and the Savolinna Music Festival. In 1998, Opera Ebony was selected as the only American opera company to perform for the opening of the Novaya Opera House in Moscow, Russia.
During the winter of 2000, members of Opera Ebony appeared in performances and engaging conversations on the PBS GREAT PERFORMANCES series - "Aïda's Brothers and Sisters: Black Voices in Opera." For Black History Month 2001, the company joined with the Metropolitan Museum of Art to present the premiere workshop performance of Harriet Tubman by composer Leo Edwards. Notable world premieres and commissioned works include Frederick Douglass(Dorothy et al., 1985); Sojourner Truth (Valerie Capers, 1986); The Outcast (Noa Ain, 1990); Oh Freedom (Lena et al., 1990); Journin' (Benjamin Matthews, 1991); and The Meetin' (Pamela et al., 1998).
Black opera stars trained by Opera Ebony or who have performed with the company include sopranos Mavis Martin, Jessye Norman, and Kathleen Battle; baritone Lawrence Craig; and conductors Lawrence Craig, Leslie Dunner, Everett Lee, and Tania Leon. Opera Ebony is the longest-surviving African American opera company in American history.
