In The Company Of Queens

CAAPA Hosts Fourth Annual Sopranos Slay Concert

By D.A. Phillips // Photography By Catrilia Watson

If one had to name African American Opera Singers, five might come to mind without the assist of an online search engine; Leontyne Price, Marian Anderson, Jessye Norman, Audra McDonald, and Denyce Graves.

Google lists 29 Female African American opera singers (not including Denyce Graves in that list) but there are so many more that are not on the stage of the World Wide Web.

On Jan. 25 at the Bowie Center for the Performing Arts, seven young African American women stepped onto the stage and into Operatic history (if not yet Google) to give a performance rivaling any professional operatic offering.  Sopranos Slay has become an annual event presented by The Coalition for African Americans in the Performing Arts (CAAPA), whose mission is “Bringing Color to the Classics”. In this their fourth production, the stage sizzled with outstanding performances by Meroe Adeeb (soprano), Marquita Raley-Cooper (mezzo), Shonda Devine (soprano), Elise Christina Jenkins (mezzo), Brittani McNeill (soprano), Kianna Kelly-Futch (soprano and youth performer), and Nia Franklin (soprano).

Franklin, former Miss America 2019 had been a part of Sopranos Slay in 2019 and returned to slay again. The ensemble this year welcomes Kianna Kelly-Futch, Miss America District of Columbia 2019 Outstanding Teen.

The solo and ensemble selections included a range of musical offerings such as “We Are Women,” “Come Down Angels,” “Embraceable You” and “Mon Coeur S’ouvre a ta Voix” by composers NorrisWORKS, Saint Saens, Smith-Moore and Gershwin.

With this year’s theme based on excerpts from former First Lady Michelle Obama’s Book, “Becoming,” the songs performed represented strength, determination, drive and hope.

When asked if it was a surprise that so many African American Women sing in the operatic field, audience member Yvette Robinson replied, “I am not surprised by this number tonight or the number of African American women who sing opera. I think the exposure [for African American women in opera] is not what it is for other types of musical genres, for example, Pop, Reggae, Hip-Hop, Go-Go. We as African Americans have not “acquired” the taste for opera en masse, but we are there and are becoming a force to be reckoned with.”

Audience member C. Robinson shared her thoughts on the program, “This was the first time I had been to the Bowie Playhouse, and it was very nice. Everyone was fantastic but I found Meroe Adeeb’s rendition beautifully done (“Je dis que rien ne m’epouvante from Carmen-Bizet). She has a rich voice and I really loved the piece that she did. Also I really liked Kianna Kelly-Futch. She is, I believe, the youngest and the piece she did was absolutely fantastic, she has a really strong voice and a stage presence about her and she was able to really command the piece that she performed (Batti, batti – Don Giovanni – Mozart).”

The program included remarks and awards presentation by CAAPA Executive Director Terri Allen. She was joined by CAAPA Charter Board Member and Prince George’s County Poet Laureate Joy Alford. The concert’s narrator was Ciara Simonson. Artistic Director Dr. Lester Green accompanied on piano.