Our Diversity Project Initiative ensures that opera is an art form that is accessible to all. We strive to enliven the opera world with the support of the African American community, to engage those with a love for the arts and make their place in the opera world one of belonging. We aim to increase the size of our African American audiences, to continue to help emerging Black opera singers finance their audition videos to help further their careers, and to continue to educate and resurrect the forgotten opera music written by Black composers and bring those works into the mainstream.

For more information and to get involved, please email HERE.

"We are celebrating and supporting an effort to resurrect and revive operas by Black composers that have been lost to history.  There are too many stories like this in America and certainly right here in Ohio"

Rebecca Asmo, Executive Director of Ohio Humanities.

Click on images above to view the I, Too, Sing America series.

I, TOO, SING AMERICA - EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH

"This project is of global importance, I know all of you are supporters of this work, and I hope that after viewing this today you will be inspired to give and to do more, but most importantly I hope that you will share this story with others so they can share this effort and ensure that these works are never lost to history again because of systems of power that have prevented Black artists and art from realizing their fullest potential"

Rebecca Asmo, Executive Director of Ohio Humanities.

The I, Too, Sing America series presented by Opera Project Columbus features long forgotten works written by Black composers. The goal of the project has been to retrieve great opera compositions that had been long forgotten due to the shameful history of racism in the opera world and make this music known and available to the public domain where it can be celebrated and appreciated.

The initial program was filmed in February 2021 at a shuttered Lincoln Theatre in Columbus, Ohio. During this phase in the pandemic, performances had been paused, performers were out of work, audiences were not able to gather and the arts as a whole were in a state of limbo. The riots of racial unrest that occurred in the Summer of 2020 made this project even more important and timely.

Part 1 in this now series of 5 was broadcast on WBNS - 10 TV so that audiences that were stuck in their homes, as many of us were at that time, could enjoy the feeling of being out for the evening enjoying opera. We were able to bring this art form to living rooms throughout Central Ohio and introduce many not only to opera, but to these forgotten works.

This presentation went on to win the Greater Columbus Arts Council’s, Columbus Makes Art Excellence Award, Organizations with Budgets under $1 million.

In January of 2023, we were able to welcome a live audience to the recording of Parts 2 and 3 of the series. Parts 4 and 5 were recently filmed, and we look forward to sharing them with you soon.

With the help of the Opera Project Columbus staff and Spyroll Studios, these works can be enjoyed for years to come, and we are hopeful that they spark conversation and appreciation as they pay tribute to these prolific composers.

Later episodes in the series present the more recently rediscovered works of two ingenious composers of the early 1900’s, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Shirley Graham Du Bois. Parts 4 and 5 feature a panel discussion and a performance of excerpts of Leslie Burrs’ Vanqui.

The initial Rediscovered Works explored a variety of works of London born Coleridge-Taylor who had three tours of the United States in the early 1900’s. He was referred to by these audiences as the “Black Mahler” though some would consider him a bigger phenomenon. In 1904, Coleridge-Taylor was received at The White House by President Theodore Roosevelt, a rare event in those days for a man of African descent. His best-known work was The Song of Hiawatha, which made his name known throughout the world. Joining Opera Project Columbus in presenting selected works of Coleridge-Taylor’s was Tenor, Justin Swain.

The program also explored the works of Shirley Graham Du Bois.  She was an American writer, playwright, composer and activist for African American causes, among others.  She was married to W.E.B. Du Bois. While studying music composition at the Sorbonne in Paris, she was introduced to Africans and Afro-Caribbean people which introduced her to new music and cultures. She later went on to attend Howard University and Oberlin College.  In 1932, she composed the opera Tom Tom: An Epic of Music and the Negro which premiered in Cleveland, Ohio; and was only performed once to an audience of over 25,000 people in two evenings. The show featured an all-Black cast and orchestra and had been commissioned by the Stadium Opera Company. Tom Tom communicates a deep commitment to reconciling African music in a contemporary, American context.  The work then became lost.  In 2001, the papers of Du Bois were acquired by Harvard University, where her husband had been the first Black graduate.  The efforts of musicologists, historians, and scholars has reinvigorated interest in this forgotten work. We welcomed Dione Parker Bennett, who performed with OPC for the first I, Too, Sing America back to the stage to join us in reviving a selection of these amazing works. She was joined by Swain and Calvin Griffin and accompanied by pianist, Ed Bak, as we celebrated these long-forgotten pieces. 

photo by Spyroll Studios

video by OPC team and Spyroll Studios