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  4. Singing a New Song: Decolonising Opera

School of Music event

Singing a New Song: Decolonising Opera

Opera North’s production of Orpheus with music by Monteverdi and Singh Degun Nicholas Watts as Orpheus and Ashnaa Sasikaran as Eurydice with the Orpheus company Photo credit: Tristram Kenton
  • Date: Thursday 27 October 2022, 16:30 – 18:00
  • Location: Online
  • Type: Seminar series
  • Cost: Free
  • Download: Outlook, iCal

Part of the 2022-23 Sadler Seminar Series: Telling Operatic Stories: Race, ethics, and authenticity.

Towards the end of the first webinar in the Sadler Seminar Series Telling Stories: Race, ethics, and authenticity, guest speaker Imani Mosely offered the provocation that, for her, “decolonisation of opera as a genre is not possible”.

In this webinar, panellists will interrogate this claim, exploring the conditions of opera’s colonial past, and how new opera might position itself critically against this background.

Joining the panel is Robert Fokkens, whose opera Bhekizizwe (2020), a sung monodrama with a libretto by Mkhululi Mabija, is currently being shown in theatres. 

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Bhekizizwe (Opera'r Ddraig) Trailer

Confirmed speakers 

  • Sam Durrant (School of English, University of Leeds) 
  • Dominic Gray (Projects Manager, Opera North)   
  • Maggie Kubanyiova (School of Education, University of Leeds)   
  • Robert Fokkens (School of Music, University of Cardiff)  
  • Ariana Phillips-Hutton (School of Music)  
  • Edward Venn (School of Music)   

How to join the webinar

The event is free on Zoom, and open to anyone interested in opera, culture and society. 

Join via Zoom.

Please contact Luqian Zhao for further information.