Events Calendar

Opera Night at the BPL  

Composer Julia Perry’s Revolutionary Music  

March 21, 2024  
 6-7PM  

Visionary Black composer Julia Perry (1924-1979) was a revolutionary artist whose groundbreaking operas, symphonies, and choral works innovatively combined musical idioms of the African diaspora with 20th century European techniques. On the anniversary of her 100th birthday, musician Ashleigh Gordon, co-founder of Castle of Our Skins and a powerful advocate for Black composers, will explore Perry’s fascinating life and work in a dynamic discussion with conductor and composer Dr. Julius P. Williams (Berklee College of Music). The evening will also include riveting performances of Perry’s music by Boston Lyric Opera artists, as well as an audience Q&A. 

Register Here!

  

Opera Night at the Boston Public Library is a legacy community partnership between Boston Lyric Opera and the Boston Public Library offering equitable access to quality opera learning experiences for over 25 years.  
   

Ashleigh Gordon is co-founder, Artistic/Executive Director, and violist of Castle of our Skins, a Boston-based concert and educational series devoted to celebrating Black artistry through music. She has presented at the IDEAS UMass Boston Conference and 180 Degrees Festival in Bulgaria; been featured in the International Musician and Improper Bostonian magazines, as well as the Boston Globe; and was awarded the 2016 Charles Walton Diversity Advocate Award from the American Federation of Musicians. She is a 2015 St. Botolph Emerging Artist Award recipient, a 2019 Brother Thomas Fellow, a nominee for the 2020 Americans for the Arts Johnson Fellowship for Artists Transforming Communities, and named one of WBUR’s “ARTery 25,” twenty-five millennials of color impacting Boston’s arts and culture scene.  

 

Dr. Julius P. Williams is an award-winning conductor and composer who has won acclaim around the globe. He has conducted for numerous opera companies and symphony orchestras across the United States and Europe. A prolific composer, Williams has created works for virtually every genre of contemporary classical performance including opera, ballet, orchestra, chamber ensemble, chorus, solo voice, dance, musical theater, and film. His music has been performed by major symphony orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. He recently served as composer with the Boston Symphony in Residence Project (2018-20). Presently, he is Artistic Director and Conductor of the Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra and Professor of Composition at Berklee College of Music, immediate Past President of the International Conductors Guild, Co-Chair of the League of American Orchestras Conductors Constituency, and Music Director of Trilogy: An Opera Company. He also serves as guest curator for Sirius XM Radio’s “Living American.” Recordings of Williams’ works are available on the Albany, Centaur, and Naxos labels.