MEDIA KIT:
Champion:
An Opera in Jazz
MAY 20 & 22 | 2022
Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre
Music by Terence Blanchard
Libretto by Michael Cristofer
Sung in English with surtitles
Approximate Running Time: 2 hours 20 minutes, one intermission
Haunted by the memories of his prize-winning boxing past, welterweight champion Emile Griffith reflects on his life as he navigates the meaning of masculinity and complex sexuality. Multi-talented composer Terence Blanchard seamlessly fuses opera and jazz styles to create this unique work based on a true story that’s not to be missed.
Champion: An Opera in Jazz contains adult themes including explicit language, non-consensual sexual situations, and physical violence.
Press Release
Champion was commissioned by Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and co-commissioned by Jazz St. Louis. The commissioning of Champion was made possible with a leadership gift from the Whitaker Foundation, and with generous support from the Fred M. Saigh Endowment at Opera Theatre and the National Endowment for the Arts. Funded in part by The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc.
Community engagement programming for Champion was supported in part by the Virginia Wellington Cabot Foundation.
This program is supported in part by a grant from the Boston Cultural Council, Reopen Creative Boston Fund, administered by the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture.
REVIEWS
“’It’s really a story about people, it’s a story about acceptance, and the things that society chooses to accept and the things that society chooses to condemn,’ says (Brian) Major. ‘There is a striking quote from Griffith himself that punctuates the show. I killed a man and the world forgives me; I love a man and the world wants to kill me.’”
– Bay State Banner
“Redemption is the key. Because the whole opera is based on [Griffith] having a flashback as an elderly man suffering from dementia. But once he gets to meet Benny Paret, Jr. at the end of the performance, who tells him the family doesn’t harbor any ill will toward [Griffith], he just loses it. To see that this man had been carrying the weight of this event throughout his life, you know, to be redeemed in such a way by a family member I know had to be something that was really special for him.”
–The Boston Globe
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Cast Photos
