Fort Worth Opera recently announced a lineup of internationally-renowned artists headlining the company’s second annual celebration of Black History Month, A Night of Black Excellence: Say It Loud — Songs of a Revolution. Last year's virtual concert proved to be the most successful event of the organization’s 2020-2021 season, and, at 2 p.m. on Feb. 20, the show will return with live performances at the 900-seat auditorium of Fort Worth’s historic I.M. Terrell Academy.

What You Need To Know

  • The Fort Worth Opera recently announced the lineup for its second annual celebration of Black History Month, A Night of Black Excellence: Say It Loud — Songs of a Revolution

  • The event will be co-hosted by Metropolitan Opera superstar soprano Karen Slack and FWO General Director Afton Battle

  • The performance will be held at I.M. Terrell High School, the city’s first Black school during segregation

  • The show will highlight arias, songs, and instrumental works written exclusively by Black and Afro-Latino(a) composers

Co-curated and co-hosted by Metropolitan Opera superstar soprano Karen Slack and FWO General Director Afton Battle, the concert will feature performances by renowned opera singers Michelle Johnson, Limmie Pulliam, Audra Scott, Brandie Sutton, Veronica Williams, bassist Laesio Littlejohn, Brandon Bell, composer/vocalist Jasmine Barnes, flutist Malcolm Payne, virtuoso pianists Dr. Gregory Thompson and Joseph Williams and the Sheran Goodspeed Keyton Gospel Ensemble, featuring pianist Myles Tate.

For the first time in company history, Fort Worth Opera will collaborate with Dallas’s award-winning David W. Carter High School Choir under the direction of Demetrius Ethley. This talented group will add choral/backing vocals for several performances, most notably as part of the grand finale with the Bandan Koro African Drum & Dance Ensemble and the entire cast of the show. The show will feature works by Cyrus Chestnut, Duke Ellington, Shawn Okpebholo, Nina Simone, original pieces composed and performed by Veronica Williams and Jasmine Barnes, and classics by Puccini, Verdi, Massenet and other great operatic composers.

“I am incredibly proud to join this amazing cast of American artists in celebration of Black excellence," said soprano Karen Slack. “After last year's overwhelmingly successful virtual concert, we are all anticipating a spectacular in-person event bringing the people of Ft. Worth together for a thrilling evening of culture and the arts."

This second installment of Fort Worth Opera’s tribute to Black artistry and ingenuity will highlight arias, songs, and instrumental works written exclusively by Black and Afro-Latino(a) composers. Not only will FWO pay homage to many pioneering Black artists and innovators of the past, but A Night of Black Excellence will feature some of the most extraordinary Black artists currently featured on the global opera and classical music scenes.

"General Director Afton Battle's curation reflects an unequivocal investment in Fort Worth's Black community,” said pianist Joseph Williams. “She is a strategist and visionary who tirelessly cultivates Black ecosystems on and off stage. I'm thrilled for her to join forces with internationally celebrated soprano Karen Slack, whose multifaceted advocacy is unparalleled in our field. I see these sisters as griots devoted to illuminating multiplicities of the Black experience through art and story." (Griots are West African troubadours/storytellers)

"I am deeply honored to serve as one of the pianists and arrangers for A Night of Black Excellence,” he counted. “In the context of Kujichagulia, ANOBE beckons Black artists to define themselves and shape their own narratives. This is of utmost importance not only to the operatic community but to society at large. The versatility and talent of this cast are off the chain.”

I.M. Terrell opened its doors in 1882 in the Butler Place Historic District as the city’s first Black school during the era of formal racial segregation in the United States and has produced many prominent 20th and 21st century luminaries, including musicians Ornette Coleman, John Carter, Kurtis King and Charles Moffett, author and educator Lillian B. Horace, Civil Rights leaders Vada Phillips Felder, Opal Lee, “Grandmother of Juneteenth,” and Tuskegee Airman Robert T. McDaniel. Closed in 1973 during the racial integration of Fort Worth’s schools, the school reopened in 1998 as I.M. Terrell Elementary School. Following a restoration and construction project, it opened again in 2018 as I.M. Terrell Academy for STEM and VPA.

“It was a pleasure getting to work with Ms. Battle and her team at the Fort Worth Opera for A Night of Black Excellence,” said I.M. Terrell Principal Baldwin R. Brown. "This was a very inspiring event that shed light on a lot of the great work that is coming out of the African American community and our African American Leaders. I was humbled and honored to be able to participate in this momentous event, and I look forward to the second, live edition in the near future.”

Fort Worth Opera also announced their continued alliance with the Tarrant County Pearls Chapter of The Society, Incorporated and new partnership with Ego Tequila, owned by Fort Worth entrepreneur Rikki Kelly, as the official sponsors of the company’s Black History Month performances and A Night of Black Excellence: Say It Loud — Songs of a Revolution.