OperaCréole to celebrate shared heritage in Sept. 25 concert at NSU

NATCHITOCHES - OperaCréole will present a concert,"The Creole French Connection: A Celebration of our Shared Heritage," at Northwestern State University on Wednesday, Sept. 25 at 7:30 p.m. in Magale Recital Hall.

The concert is sponsored by the Creole Heritage Center at Northwestern State University, the School of Social Sciences and Applied Programs, the Dear School of Creative and Performing Arts, the Black Studies minor at NSU and the Gail Metoyer Jones Center for Inclusion and Diversity.

Tickets are $20. NSU students are admitted free with a current student ID. Students under 18 are also admitted free. Tickets can be purchased online at http://creole-french-connection.eventbrite.com, at the event, or by contacting the Creole Heritage Center at (318) 357-6685, [email protected], or in Kyser Hall, Room 118.

Theconcert is based on OperaCréole's recent concert at The American Church in Paris, France,and will include opera scenes, arias and Créole folk songs by Lucien Lambert, Edmond Dédé and Camille Nickerson. Performers Taylor J. White, Joshua Staes, Valencia Pleasant, Khary Wilson and Givonna Joseph will be accompanied by Dr. Wilfred Delphin on piano.

The award-winning nonprofit, founded in 2011 by the motheranddaughter team of Givonna Joseph and Aria Mason, is dedicated to researching and performing lost or rarely performed works by composers of African descent. The company focuses on works by free 19th-century New Orleans composers of color and also promotes Louisiana's Creole language and culture.

OperaCréole's singers are professional artists, educators and international soloists with roots in New Orleans, America's "First City of Opera!" Their groundbreaking work, including the 2017 production of Lucien Lambert's lost opera "La Flamenca" (1903), has been acknowledged nationally by NBC Nightly News, NPR (National Public Radio), The New Yorker and the AfriClassical Blog. In 2017, the ensemble's founders were named among the Southerners of the Year by SouthernLiving and OperaCréole has received numerous awards for contributions to the operatic sphere. Information about their entire 2024-2025 season, which includes the premiere of Edmond Dédé's never-performed 1887 opera, "Morgiane," in New Orleans, Washington, D.C.; Lincoln Center in New York City and College Park, Maryland, can be found online at www.operacreole.org.