A New Center
Some gauges of racial progress in opera are relatively simple to measure: It only takes cursory research to determine whether or not companies are engaging non-white artists and administrators or programming composers and librettists of color. But other measures are murkier. Do people of color working within opera feel that, in order to perform their jobs, they need to cater to white audiences, administrators, and boards? Are the operatic stories being told by and about Black, Asian, Latino, and Indigenous people novel and authentic, or do they fall into tired tropes known to resonate well with white viewers?
This article was published in the Summer 2021 issue of Opera America Magazine.
Gabrielle Bruney
Gabrielle Bruney is a New York-based arts and culture writer whose work has appeared in Esquire, Vice, and Jezebel.