Jubilee tells the story of the singers who brought African American spirituals to audiences around the world
SEATTLE— In October, Seattle Opera audiences will experience a unique new work by visionary writer and director Tazewell Thompson, whose opera Blue was hailed by The New York Times as “the most elegant libretto heard in a long time.” Jubilee tells the story of a group of Black American singers who brought African American spirituals to audiences around the world, forever changing the trajectory of music history.
With a score comprising over 40 spirituals, from “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” and “Wade in the Water” to “Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel” and “Balm in Gilead,” the opera follows the Fisk Jubilee Singers as they embark on their first tours, raising money for the fledgling Fisk University. Founded just after Emancipation and the American Civil War, the university offered education and empowerment to newly freed Black Americans. The ensemble served as ambassadors and fundraisers, performing for audiences and dignitaries across the United States and Europe, including Queen Victoria, Mark Twain, and President Ulysses S. Grant, establishing a legacy that continues to the present day.
“Spirituals formed the foundation of gospel, blues, jazz, R&B and even hip-hop—and the Jubilees introduced this music to the world,” said Thompson, who began studying and collecting spirituals over 30 years ago. “Their fundraising concerts were also directly responsible for the survival of one of America’s earliest Black universities. The Jubilees put their lives on the line quite literally, going without food, freezing in the winter, suffering from illness and violent hostility on a punishing tour schedule—because they knew that education was the path to real power and lasting freedom.”
Thanks to the resilience and dedication of these young musicians, Fisk University still exists today, having educated generations of Black Americans, including W. E. B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells, John Lewis, Nikki Giovanni, and Roland Hayes. Such iconic names are known now, in part, because the Jubilees’ success helped challenge prevailing racial stereotypes and shift perceptions about Black culture and talent. Their performances also showed the world that spirituals were a legitimate art form, deserving of the same level of artistic excellence as European classical music.
“Every student at Fisk University learns the history of their school—they are taught that each brick was sung into existence,” said Lisa Arrindell, who plays the pivotal role of Ella Sheppard, the group’s de facto leader. “But elsewhere in our America, the Jubilees’ story has been left in the dark. I want African Americans to know, viscerally, that we come from a formidable history of stalwart creativity, fortitude, and excellence.”
Tazewell Thompson first encountered the Jubilee Singers through a PBS documentary that aired in 2000. He became obsessed with the spirituals they sang, collecting hundreds of books, scores, CDs, and records as he sought to understand why these songs mattered, and why they endured. By 2016, he knew the Jubilees’ story deserved operatic telling. When a commission to write a theater piece arrived first, the story became an a cappella stage play, appearing at DC’s Arena Stage in 2019. This fall, Jubilee will finally be premiered in its full operatic form on the mainstage of Seattle Opera—a particularly meaningful tribute to the troupe of dedicated singers who demonstrated the artistic value of spirituals in concert halls around the world.
“I’m proud that this important new work will be the final mainstage production of my tenure at Seattle Opera,” said General Director Christina Scheppelmann, who begins her term as General and Artistic Director of Belgium’s La Monnaie in January 2025. “And it is only fitting that this story about the Jubilees should find its fullest expression on the opera stage—their championing of spirituals has been carried forward by a long and distinguished line of Black opera singers, including Paul Robeson and Jessye Norman. Tazewell has written a remarkable tale of resilience that pulls together so many wonderful songs, and I’m eager for more people to learn the fascinating story of the Fisk Jubilee Singers through this beautiful opera.”
Conceived and written by Thompson, Jubilee features vocal arrangements by Dianne Adams McDowell and orchestration by Michael Ellis Ingram. Under Thompson’s stage direction, the world premiere production runs October 12–26 at McCaw Hall. Conductor Kellen Gray, in his Seattle Opera debut, will lead the 13-member ensemble cast along with a 48-piece orchestra. While much of the opera will have orchestral accompaniment, the diegetic choral numbers— those performed by the choir of characters within the narrative world of the opera—will be sung a cappella, just as they were on the real-life Jubilee tours.
“From the beginning of the opera to the end, you are saturated with glorious spirituals,” said Thompson. “The inventive vocal arrangements, lush harmonies, and crisp rhythms are breathtaking. I hope audiences will come to understand that spirituals tell the story of who Black Americans are as a people: their faith, pain, anguish, hope, loss, work, success, celebration, love, and joy. These songs are a living legacy—functioning beacons of hope and history.”