To celebrate and spotlight some of the field’s top artists and emerging singers, OPERA America recently asked company leadership to nominate the singers and production artists who have caught their ears and eyes.

When composer Kevin Day needs to recharge, he turns to the for­est, mountains, and water. The award-winning composer, jazz pianist, and conductor used to head to a local park near his apart­ment to people-watch and get his head together.

These days, his schedule doesn’t permit much time for nature. “I started commissions when I was 19 and doing residencies at 20, and nine years later, it’s turned into something unbelievable,” he says. Still, Day, who has had his music premiered by the Houston Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and many others, often incorporates something of the natural world in his music, includ­ing in his first opera, Lalovavi, with a libretto by poet Tifara Brown and direction and drama­turgy by Kimille Howard.

The opera is an Afrofuturist tale that will premiere on Juneteenth in 2026, the first of three works in Cincinnati Opera’s Black Opera Project, a commissioning program intended to showcase Black sto­ries. “[Lalovavi] is a celebration of Black joy, something desperately needed right now,” says Elizabeth Huston, executive director of the opera company Synchromy.

In preparation for Lalovavi, Brown, who describes herself as an author and performance poet, dove into reading opera librettos and listening to operatic rep­ertoire. As a former saxophone player in her family’s band and a church pianist, Brown was no stranger to blending spoken words and music. Born and raised in the Deep South, Brown uses her words as a vehicle for advocacy and recently published Honeysuckle: Poems and Stories from a Black Southerner, a memorial to one of her ancestors. She has also had poems printed in Quartz Literary, Sunspot Literary Journal, Gulf Stream Literary Magazine, and numerous other publications.

 Kevin Day and Tifara Brown’s Lalovavi is one of four In the Wings profiles featured in our summer 2025 magazine. You can read all the profiles here.

In the Wings is underwritten by generous support from Laurie E. Nelson Randlett, trustee of the Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera.

To learn about other upcoming premieres, visit the National Opera Calendar.