蜜柚直播

Carnegie Hall wanted him to return, but the tenor best known for his bel canto roles in operas by Rossini and Bellini didn鈥檛 want to return with the same-old-same-old repertoire of Mozart, Strauss and his go-to Italian favorites.

He wanted his post-pandemic return to be meaningful to him.

That鈥檚 when he struck on an idea: Wouldn鈥檛 it be great to take the music of young African American composers to one of the country鈥檚 most storied stages to celebrate coming out of one of the country鈥檚 darkest chapters?

Thus was born the Grammy-nominated, critically acclaimed 2023 album 鈥淩ising,鈥� which Brownlee will bring to 蜜柚直播 on Wednesday, March 13. The recital, presented by 蜜柚直播 Opera, is part of the 蜜柚直播 Desert Song Festival.

Brownlee, 51, commissioned six composers 鈥� , , , , and 鈥� to set the texts of poems from Harlem Renaissance writers, including Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Douglas Johnson and Paul Laurence Dunbar into songs about joy, empowerment, faith, love and strength in the face of adversity.

鈥淪o many people think that music written by Black people is only for them. Yes, a lot of it may talk about our struggles and our difficulties of the past,鈥� the 20-plus-year opera veteran said during a phone call last week. 鈥淏ut if you were to take the writings of Claude McKay and Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, you鈥檒l realize that everything isn鈥檛 about the Black experience. They talk about love and they talk about family and so many other things and then people will realize and understand it鈥檚 for all of us.鈥�

鈥淩ising,鈥� which Brownlee and his accompanist Kevin J. Miller introduced to the Carnegie Hall audience in March 2022 before releasing the album last June, grew out of the pandemic isolation.

鈥淲e were all sitting at home and we were looking around and doing some introspection of what we were going to do coming out of the pandemic,鈥� he recalled.

We also were captivated by the May 2020 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis at the hands of police officers.

鈥淚n the rhythm of life, we are going in different directions, we have things to do, it鈥檚 easy to miss something. 鈥� But when we were in the pandemic, we were sitting at home. Nothing was going on except the major event that was the George Floyd incident,鈥� Brownlee said.

Floyd鈥檚 death was a turning point for the country and, arguably, the world. Protests erupted worldwide, and so did the conversation about equality and social justice. Brownlee said many of his classical music colleagues asked him and other Black artists if what they were seeing painted a true picture of what it was really like for African Americans.

鈥淥ur colleagues were reaching out to us, 鈥業 never knew it was this difficult,鈥欌�� he recalled. But for him and others, 鈥渋t鈥檚 not jarring to us because this is our reality.鈥�

Those difficult conversations led to changes, some small and gratuitous, but others that had the feeling of lasting.

鈥淎 lot of people, myself included, thought that it would be short-lived, but I have to say that there has been an effort to try to mainstream 鈥� inclusivity, more opportunity, more diversity鈥� in the arts, he said. 鈥淚 think you can see that in the casting of different operas and concerts. You can see more diversity across the board, so that has been meaningful.鈥�

Brownlee, accompanied by Miller, is devoting half of Wednesday鈥檚 recital at the University of 蜜柚直播鈥檚 Holsclaw Hall to 鈥淩ising.鈥� The other half will feature songs and arias from composers who have influenced Brownlee鈥檚 career.

The recital is one of two next week. On Tuesday, March 12, the Mark Morris Dance Group brings 鈥淭he Look of Love 鈥� Songs of Burt Bacharach鈥� with Broadway actress and vocalist to .