Sunday started Opera Saratoga's America Sings concert series at Caffe Lena. It’s a four-part concert series highlighting the voices of Black, indigenous and people of color.

“We are so excited to bring this programming to audiences in the Capital Region during the spring and summer seasons,” said Opera Saratoga director of development Katrina Fasulo.

The series will amplify the voices of BIPOC artists, who have historically been underrepresented on the concert stage.

Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano opera singer Cierra Byrd is the first of the series to be featured in the series. Cierra earned the award for her role as Bertha in Terence Blanchard's production of “Fire Shut Up in My Bones.”

“I want to show people that black singers are more than Porgy and Bess and Treemonisha,” said Byrd. “We will perform those pieces and we will do them well. We will sell tickets and win Grammy awards, just as the Met did two years ago. However, we're also able to do everything in our own style, with our own flavor. And we can honor the craft for what it is."

Each event will feature a wide array of classical, jazz and popular music curated by the artists themselves.

“All of our singers are graduates of Opera Saratoga's Artist Development Program,” Fasulo said. “We now refer to them as festival artists, but they were all previously here at Saratoga. Cierra was here in 2019 and played the witch in Hansel and Gretel. We are excited to continue this process of reengaging these artists and letting them explore their artistry and curate their own recitals.”

For more information on the lineup of artists, click here.