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Interlochen Arts Academy to present premiere of opera by William Banfield in 2024

Sculptor Edmonia Lewis
Robert A.Larson
Sculptor Edmonia Lewis

The opera celebrates Edmonia Lewis, the pioneering African American and Native American 19th-century sculptor.

In the spring of 2024, Interlochen Arts Academy will present the fully staged premiere of the opera "Edmonia" by award-winning composer William (“Bill”) Banfield.

The opera celebrates Edmonia Lewis (1844-1907), the pioneering African American and Native American 19th-century sculptor.

Originally commissioned in 2000 by Pulitzer- and Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison, the opera spans Lewis’s life from her birth in upstate New York through her turbulent days at Oberlin College and formative studio days in Boston, to her astonishing move to Rome, Italy.

In 1876, at the age of 32, Lewis captivated the world with her larger-than-life marble statue “The Death of Cleopatra” that now stands in the Smithsonian. Even with major art shows and lucrative commissions during her lifetime, she fell into oblivion at the turn of the 20th century, only to be “rediscovered” around 1970.

“We’re thrilled and honored to present the first staged version of William Banfield’s original opera Edmonia,” said Interlochen Center for the Arts Provost Camille Colatosti. “Interlochen Arts Academy students from myriad artistic disciplines will collaborate to celebrate this extraordinary 19th-century artist. Together, we continue to expand our focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion, and to create educational experiences that unite diverse perspectives.”

Composer Bill Banfield
Composer Bill Banfield

“Edmonia Lewis is one of the most important documented, celebrated Black cultural figures of the 19th century, and yet her story is largely untold and her life forgotten,” said Bill Banfield. “The opera implores us to mindfully examine what happens when we miss the rich heritages cultivated by people and artisans all around us. I look forward to collaborating with Interlochen students to showcase her remarkable life and work.”

The dramatic highs and lows of Lewis’s career are perhaps only surpassed by the astounding drama of her life itself. Accused of attempted murder by poisoning, befriended by Frederick Douglass, undaunted by world-travel as a single woman or racial barriers in the late 1800s, she defied the odds of her time. She spoke for women’s, Black, and Native American rights through her art even as the U.S. Civil War raged and ended.

Interlochen Arts Academy’s 2024 production of Edmonia will be the culmination of a three-year interdisciplinary exploration of the music and art of the African diaspora.

The exploration kicked off in September 2021 when Yuval Sharon, the Gary L. Wasserman Artistic Director of Michigan Opera Theatre, and bass-baritone Davóne Tines hosted master classes on the Interlochen campus and worked with students across disciplines. Additionally, in October 2021, guest artist Laurin Talese rehearsed and performed three pieces related to the project with Arts Academy students: Talese’s “This Love,” Duke Ellington’s “Do Nothing Till You Hear from Me,” and Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II’s “The Folks who Live on the Hill.”

A major component of the exploration will commence in spring 2022 when William Banfield begins his residency at Interlochen. Banfield will start workshopping his original Edmonia opera with musical theatre, orchestra, opera, choir, visual arts, and interdisciplinary arts students. In addition, he will lead a cohort of visiting artists and guest conductors representing the African diaspora.

Spring 2022 public events will include a concert with American jazz pianist, composer, and conductor Billy Childs, with works by Banfield; and a performance of the Billy Childs Ensemble and the Ying Quartet featuring Arts Academy students. Banfield, Childs, and the Ying Quartet will also conduct master classes and rehearsals, meet with student groups, and address the campus community.