Trilogy: An Opera Company

Trilogy: An Opera Company (Trilogy: AOC) is a non-profit opera organization in Newark, New Jersey. Trilogy: AOC aims to produce high art evolving from the compositions and life stories of Black people. It embraces quality and diversity whilst supporting the community of black artists.

Trilogy: An Opera Company
AbbreviationTrilogy: AOC
Formation2004
TypeNGO
HeadquartersNewark, New Jersey
Region served
New Jersey
LeaderKevin Maynor
Websitetrilogyaoc.homestead.com

History

Trilogy: AOC began in 2004. The inception of Trilogy: An Opera Company followed a conversation between Sharpe James, then Newark mayor and African American opera singer Kevin Maynor.[1] It was to be a cultural gift to the people of the then chronically depressed urban area of Newark, New Jersey. Initially developed as a one-off festival, Trilogy: AOC's success led to the formation of a committee and its continuing productions. Trilogy: an opera company is a 501c3 company. Trilogy: an opera company made its debut at The New Jersey Performing Arts Center on November 23, 2014.

Composers

Trilogy: AOC develops the works of Black composers as well as, for example, Scott Joplin, Michael Raphael, Dorothy Rudd Moore, Charles Lloyd Jr., Adolphus Hailstork, Richard Thompson, Trevor Weston, T. J. Anderson, Anthony Davis, and Julius P. Williams.

Productions

Trilogy: AOC's productions have included "Robeson", "The Mask in the Mirror", The Ballad of James Byrd, Darfur: a Dramatic Cantata, 4 and Nat Turner by Michael Raphael.[2] The cast of Nat Turner included Angela Brown, soprano, and Kevin Maynor, bass. It also included a twenty-two member ballet and an orchestra of African Americans as well as a sixty-member child chorus from Harlem, New York. Nat Turner was conducted by Jeffrey Fairweather, directed by Amiri Baraka, with Adrienne Armstrong choreographing and Chantal Wright was the chorus master. Many of the premieres were conducted by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Penson_Williams, Resident Conductor/Music Director.

In 2016 Trilogy:AOC presented the premiere of an opera called Five, by Anthony Davis with libretto by Richard Wesley. The work was later made smaller with less characters still a two-act opera called The Central Park Five, which premiered at the Long Beach Opera in 2019 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2020.[3]

Supporters

Supporters of Trilogy: AOC have included: The Starry Night Fund; The Lambent Foundation; Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation; PNC Bank; City National Bank, Investors Bank; The Prudential Foundation, The Puffin Foundation, The Modell Foundation; Pfizer and The Victoria Foundation.

References
  1. "Newark-born Trilogy Opera Company brings Black histories to the genre – Brick City Live". Retrieved Dec 14, 2019.
  2. Central, Spotlight (Nov 6, 2016). "An Interview with Kevin Maynor of Trilogy: An Opera Company, which Presents the World Premiere of…". Medium. Retrieved Dec 14, 2019.
  3. Cooper, Michael (30 May 2019). "This Summer, Opera Grapples With Race". New York Times. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
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