NYC Arts: The Complete Guide to Art and Culture

Opera Ebony is the longest-operating African-American opera company in the United States. It performs operas from the standard European repertoire in addition to newly commissioned works that engage with African-American history. Founded in 1973, the company has served as a professional platform for thousands of American artists, administrators and the technical staff who help them to refine their talent and perfect their craft.

In New York City, Opera Ebony performs at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Beacon Theatre and the Manhattan Center. The company has partnered with several major international orchestras, opera companies and music festivals, including the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra, the Finnish National Opera, the Estonia Philharmonic and the Savolinna Music Festival.

Programs have included The Colors of Love, a compilation of Caribbean, Broadway and operatic classics; Opera and All That Jazz, in which world-class performers sing operatic favorites by Puccini, Verdi, Gounod, and Strauss, among others, and then turn to classics of American jazz and popular music; and Movin’ with the Spirit—Up From Dese Roots, featuring songs of worship, ragtime, blues, bossa nova and jazz.