Summer is finally here, and BLO has lots of excitement ahead. After a season filled with new highs and artistic successes, we kick off the summer with the world premiere of The Wanderer’s Tethering, a BLO commission from City of Boston Poet Laureate Porsha Olayiwola and Boston-based composer Mason Bynes. What excites me about this project is the intersection between art forms - poetry and music; spoken word and sung performance; chamber ensemble and narrative - and the powerful impact they make when telling a story. This project, our second partnership with the Boston Poet Laureate program, embodies and builds [...]

[EXCERPT] Joseph Bologne, “Chevalier de Saint-Georges” (ca. 1739-1799) was a Parisian celebrity, acclaimed swordsman, composer, violin virtuoso, and conductor of one of the best orchestras in Europe. He also fought in at least one, perhaps two revolutions. Bologne was born to a teenaged enslaved woman, Anne “dit Nanon” on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. There is no record of his baptism, and primary sources have conflicting information regarding his date of birth. Bologne’s father, a wealthy plantation owner, brought the boy and his mother to Paris and introduced the young “Chevalier de Saint-Georges” into French society while ensuring he [...]