Masterworks Series

Fire Shut Up In My Bones

April 24, 2025 | 8 PM

Program

Selections from Terence Blanchard’s Film Scores

Arias from the opera Fire Shut Up in My Bones
Tears Of Anger And Shame
Don’t Be In Such A Rush
Leave It In The Road
Golden Button
Peculiar Grace
Peculiar Grace Dance
There Was A Storm
A Piece For Billie
In The Car
Peculiar Grace

Featuring

Terence Blanchard, trumpet & composer
The E-Collective
Andrew F. Scott & Matthew Unkenholz, video projections
Carolyn Kuan, conductor
Janinah Burnett, soprano
Will Liverman, baritone

About

In September 2021, after The Metropolitan Opera had been shuttered for over a year, the world-renowned institution opened its season with the first work in its 138 years written by an African American composer— TERENCE BLANCHARD’s masterpiece Fire Shut Up In My Bones.

The production, which was a remount of the premiere at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in 2019, was performed eight (8) times for almost 30,000 people, not to mention the hundreds of thousands that watched The MET: LIVE in HD in theaters all over the world. To bring this full circle, in December 2022, Peter Gelb announced that his world-renowned company would be staging Fire Shut Up In My Bones again in the 2023-2024 season due to its unparalleled success.

This work has surpassed the realm of masterpiece and entered that of a new cultural paradigm. The overarching theme of this new moment is that opera and classical music are for EVERYONE.  In an effort to continue the positive radiance of this new movement, Blanchard and The ECollective have teamed up with visual artist Andrew F. Scott to distill a concert production for orchestra that features excerpts from the opera performed by the composer’s own incredible ensemble and two (2) guest singers. The music and Scott’s video projections give the audience a look inside the mind of Blanchard, and the gravitational pull of the moment that he has created.

About Fire Shut Up in My Bones

Fire Shut Up in My Bones is Charles M. Blow’s powerful memoir of a young Black man’s journey from a turbulent Louisiana childhood to becoming a celebrated journalist. Exploring race, masculinity, trauma, and self-discovery, it inspired Terence Blanchard’s historic opera, the widely celebrated first by a Black composer performed at the Met. A New York Times Notable Book and 2015 Lambda Literary Award winner, Blow’s lyrical and honest storytelling offers a powerful narrative of resilience and finding one’s voice.

About Terence Blanchard

Terence Blanchard is a celebrated jazz trumpeter and composer known for his innovative albums and acclaimed film scores, including collaborations with Spike Lee. He expanded his artistry to opera, composing Champion and Fire Shut Up in My Bones.

This production premiered at Dallas Symphony in February 2023.

*Program subject to change.

Concert Sponsors:

  • Eversource
  • Fairview Capital
  • Trinity Health
  • The Katharine K. McLane & Henry R. McLane Charitable Trust
  • Paula Silas Guy & John Guy
  • Greater Hartford Arts Council
  • The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving
  • The Legacy Foundation
  • Floyd Green

KNOW BEFORE YOU GO

Attend the FREE pre-concert talk with Maestro Kuan or special guest one hour before the concert!

Bring your smartphone to access our digital Playbill- don’t forget to silence it!

Grab a drink or bite from one of our convenient bar/café locations, and feel free to bring to your seat.

Applaud when you like what you hear – don’t worry about the “right” time!

Wear what you want – be comfortable.

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