Executive & Artistic Director
Thor Steingraber
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Terence Blanchard
Fire Shut Up in My Bones & Champion
Highlights From Two Operas by Composer & Jazz Trumpeter Terence Blanchard
Featuring Blanchard, The E-Collective, and Turtle Island Quartet
Sun Apr 6 | 7pm
Run Time: about 2 hours including a 20-minute intermission
This performance is generously underwritten by Ryan and Melissa Clinton; sponsored by Premier America Credit Union.
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An Interview With Terence Blanchard
Synopsis for Fire Shut Up in My Bones | Synopsis for Champion
Musicians & Performers | Production Staff
Terence Blanchard | The E-Collective | Turtle Island Quartet
Adrienne Danrich | Justin Austin
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Program
Musical numbers will be announced from the stage.
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Musicians & Performers
Terence Blanchard | Trumpet
Charles Altura | Guitar
Victor Gould | Piano
Dale Black | Bass
Oscar Seaton | Drums
David Balakrishnan | Violin
Gabriel Terracciano | Violin
Mads Tolling | Viola
Naseem Alatrash | Cello
Adrienne Danrich | Soprano
Justin Austin | Baritone
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Production Staff
Andrew F. Scott | Visual Media Artist
Matthew Unkenholz | Visual Media Artist
Joshua Johnson | Company Manager
Program Note
Is it opera? Is it jazz? It’s both. New Orleans-born trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard broke many boundaries as the first Black composer to premiere an opera at The Metropolitan Opera in New York City — the first composer to do so with a pedigree squarely in jazz. He did it twice in a row in 2021 and 2023. His subjects were also groundbreaking: the welterweight world boxing champion of 1961, 1962, and 1963, who was gay; and the intrepid memoir of New York Times columnist Charles Blow.
The Soraya brings excerpts from both operas to the West Coast for the first time, with Blanchard himself performing. To hear more about this momentous occasion directly from Blanchard, watch the video interview with this groundbreaking artist.
Gratefully,
Thor Steingraber
Executive and Artistic Director,
Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts
Synopsis for Fire Shut Up in My Bones
ACT I
Charles Blow, age 20, drives down a Louisiana backroad with a gun in the passenger seat. Destiny sings to him, calling him back to his childhood home. He begins reliving memories from his childhood.
Charles’ seven-year-old self, Char’es-Baby, talks to his mother, Billie. He is desperate for affection, but Billie is too frazzled to give him the validation that he craves. They are dirt poor. Billie works in a chicken factory, but she dreams of Char’es-Baby getting a good education and escaping their town. Her husband, Spinner, is a womanizing spendthrift. When she hears that he’s flirting with other women, she confronts him at gunpoint. She doesn’t shoot, but Billie tosses Spinner out. Billie and her five sons move in with Uncle Paul. Char’es-Baby dreams of a different life, collecting “treasure” from the junkyard while Loneliness sings to him. One day, his cousin Chester comes to visit. When Chester sexually abuses him, he is too horrified and ashamed to say anything.
Adult Charles begins to weep as he recoils from these memories, while Destiny reminds him that there is no escape.
ACT II
As Charles grows into a teenager, he is full of confusion and rage. He attends a church service where the pastor is baptizing people, promising that God can wipe all sins clean. Charles decides to get baptized, but phantom terrors still haunt him. Charles tries to talk to his brothers, but they refuse to engage in any “soft talk.” Loneliness reappears, promising to be his lifelong companion. Evelyn, a beautiful young girl, interrupts Charles’s reverie. Their chemistry is clear. Charles feels a new sense of independence and is finally ready to strike out on his own; Grambling State University has offered him a full scholarship. Billie is left alone to reflect on all that she has sacrificed for her family and wonders what might lie ahead.
ACT III
Charles is one of several fraternity pledges being hazed at his college. Charles stoically takes each indignity in stride: Pain is nothing new for him. Later, he goes to a nightclub and meets an attractive young woman, Greta. They begin a passionate love affair. Charles eventually shares his awful secret with Greta, only to find out that she’s still seeing someone else. Charles is left alone again. He calls home, desperate to hear his mother’s voice. To his shock, Billie tells him that Chester has come back to visit. Charles instantly decides to return home to confront Chester, gun in hand.
Charles sits in his car on the dark road, contemplating the choice lying before him. Destiny starts to sing to him once again, seductively promising to stand by him through to the bloody end. As Charles reaches his childhood home, Char’es-Baby appears, urging him to leave his bitterness behind. Charles must decide whether to exact his revenge or begin his life anew.
Synopsis reprinted courtesy of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.
Synopsis for Champion
ACT I
In his apartment in Hempstead, Long Island, Emile Griffith is struggling to get dressed. Suffering from dementia, he is confused and haunted by his past. Luis, his adopted son and caretaker, reminds him to be ready for an important meeting with Benny Paret, Jr.
In the late 1950s, Emile is a young man again in St. Thomas. He yearns to find his mother, Emelda, and make it big in America as a singer, a baseball player, and a designer of hats. Emile moves to New York. When he finds his mother, she is confused, not sure which of her seven abandoned children he is, but overjoyed. Hoping to find Emile a job, she takes him to meet Howie Albert, a hat manufacturer. Howie sees an opportunity: Emile is built like a boxer not a hat maker, and he sets his sights on training Emile as a fighter. Giving up his other dreams, Emile quickly develops into a talented welterweight. Lonely and confused by his success, Emile finds his way to a gay bar in Manhattan. Kathy Hagen, the owner, welcomes Emile to a world that frightens and attracts him. Emile confides in Kathy, revealing some demons from his past. As a boy, his cruel fundamentalist cousin Blanche forced him to hold cinderblocks above his head as punishment for having the devil inside him, a punishment that made him into a man of great physical strength.
In 1962, Emile encounters Benny “Kid” Paret at a weigh-in for their upcoming fight. Kid Paret taunts the charismatic Emile, calling him “maricon,” a disparaging Spanish word for a homosexual. Alone with Howie, Emile tries to talk to him frankly about why this word hurt him so deeply, but for Howie this is something that no one in the fight business wants to talk about. Howie leaves him and Emile wonders what it means to be a man. Emile and Paret prepare for the big fight. Paret continues to taunt Emile, who ultimately delivers seventeen blows in less than seven seconds and knocks Paret into a coma.
ACT II
Back in Emile’s bedroom in the present, Emile is haunted by the ghost of Kid Paret, who still questions his old opponent.
In the late 1960s, Emile is enjoying a strong winning streak all over the world. Titles, trophies, and money roll in, but he remains disturbed by the death of Kid Paret. He tries living it up, and, denying his own identity, he takes a young bride, Sadie, although everyone including his mother Emelda, who remembers her own childhood back in the Islands, warns him against it.
By the early 1970s, after the wedding, Emile’s luck seems to have changed. He’s now on a long losing streak and starting to display signs of “boxer’s brain,” or trauma-related dementia. Howie realizes that Emile’s days are numbered and tries to console him, but Emile rejects Howie, as well as his wife and his mother. Instead, he looks for comfort back at Kathy’s bar. Outside in the street, he is taunted by a group of thugs. They beat him violently, exacerbating his brain injuries.
Back in the present, Emile relives the nightmare of the attack. Luis tries to comfort him. “That was long ago,” says Luis. In a New York City park, Emile asks for forgiveness from Benny Jr. Luis tells Benny that since that terrible evening Emile has struggled to find peace with what he’s done and who he truly is. Back at home, the voices and memories subside. Emile Griffith, the former welterweight champ, can now take life one day at a time.
Synopsis reprinted courtesy of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.
LA Seen
Rising talent. Hometown icons.
For more than a decade, Los Angeles performing artists have had a home at The Soraya. They are standouts throughout the many seasons, performing original works, undertaking first-time collaborations, and rising to new heights. The Soraya both keeps an eye out for rising local talent and uplifts the ongoing work of the region’s favorites. Thousands of fresh eyes in The Soraya’s Great Hall have been introduced to hometown dancers, jazz artists, and other musicians. In April, The Soraya introduces its first monthlong series of programs dedicated to the performing arts in Los Angeles, LA Seen.
Terence Blanchard
Terence Blanchard has been a consistent artistic force for making powerful musical statements concerning painful American tragedies, past and present. A true Renaissance man, Blanchard stands tall as one of jazz’s most-esteemed trumpeters and defies expectations by creating a spectrum of artistic pursuits. Boundary-breaking and genre-defying, Blanchard is recognized globally as a dazzling soloist and a prolific composer for film, television, opera, Broadway, orchestras, and for his own ensembles. In fact, TheaterMania recently described Blanchard as “the most exciting American composer working in opera today.”
A seven-time Grammy® Award winner and Oscar-nominated film composer, Blanchard became only the second African American composer to be nominated twice in the original score category at the Academy Awards, duplicating Quincy Jones’ feat from 1967’s In Cold Blood and 1985’s The Color Purple. Blanchard’s work has placed him at the forefront of giving voice to human rights, civil rights, and racial injustice, including the 2015 album Breathless, an elegy for Eric Garner, who died after being put in a police chokehold and whose words, “I can’t breathe,” became a civil rights rallying cry.
Blanchard is also heralded as a two-time opera composer whose Fire Shut Up in My Bones is based on the memoir of celebrated writer and New York Times columnist Charles Blow. Fire Shut Up in My Bones premiered at New York’s Metropolitan Opera on Sept. 27, 2021, opening night of the 2021-22 season, making it the first opera composed by an African American composer to premiere at the Met in its 138-year history. The recording of those performances received a Grammy Award for best opera recording, and The New York Times heralded Fire Shut Up in My Bones as “inspiring,” “subtly powerful,” and “a bold and affecting adaptation of Charles Blow’s memoir.” Of the historical moment, Blanchard said, "I don’t want to be a token, but a turnkey.” The opera has been widely recognized as one of our nation’s most important cultural milestones and returned to the Met for a highly anticipated second run in April 2024. Blanchard’s first opera, Champion, about the troubled life of boxer Emile Griffith, premiered in 2013, and starred Denyce Graves, with a libretto from Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Cristofer. Champion premiered at the Met in April 2023 to widespread critical acclaim. It received a 2024 Grammy for best opera recording. But there is a center of gravity. It’s Blanchard’s beautiful, provocative, inspiring jazz recordings that undergird all these projects. The same holds true now as it did early in his career in 1994 when he told DownBeat: “Writing for film is fun, but nothing can beat being a jazz musician, playing a club, playing a concert.”
His expansive work includes composing the scores for about 20 Spike Lee projects over three decades, ranging from the documentary When the Levees Broke to the more recent Lee films, BlacKkKlansman and Da 5 Bloods (both of which garnered Blanchard Oscar nominations). Blanchard has also interwoven beautiful melodies that create strong backdrops to human stories: Regina King’s One Night in Miami; Kasi Lemmons’ Eve’s Bayou; George Lucas’ Red Tails; the HBO drama series “Perry Mason” (now in its second season); Apple TV’s docuseries “They Call Me Magic” (for which Blanchard received an Emmy nomination); and Gina Prince-Bythewood and Viola Davis’ critically acclaimed film, The Woman King.
In his expansive career as a recording leader, Blanchard delivered Absence, a collaboration with his longtime E-Collective band and the acclaimed Turtle Island Quartet, which received Grammy nominations in November 2021 for best jazz instrumental album and best improvised jazz solo for Blanchard. Recorded in February 2020, just before the COVID-19 lockdowns, Absence started out as a project to show gratitude to Wayne Shorter. “I knew that Wayne wasn’t feeling well at the time, so I wanted to honor him to let him know how much he has meant to me,” says Blanchard, who splits his time between Los Angeles and his native New Orleans. “When you look at my own writing, you can see how much I’ve learned from Wayne. He mastered writing compositions starting with a simple melody and then juxtaposing it against the harmonies that come from a different place to make it come alive in a different light.”
Born in New Orleans in 1962, Blanchard is a musical polymath who launched his solo career as a bandleader in the 1980s. Since then, he has released about 20 solo albums, garnered 17 Grammy nominations, composed for the stage and for about 60 films, and received 10 major commissions. He has been named an official 2024 NEA (National Endowment for the Arts) Jazz Master as well as a member of the 2024 class of awardees for the esteemed American Academy of Arts and Letters, and currently serves as the executive artistic director for SF Jazz, the largest nonprofit jazz presenter in the world.
Regarding his consistent attachment to artistic works of conscience, Blanchard confesses, “You get to a certain age when you ask, ‘Who’s going to stand up and speak out for us?’ Then you look around and realize that the James Baldwins, Muhammad Alis and Dr. Kings are no longer here ... and begin to understand that it falls on you. I’m not trying to say I’m here to try to correct the whole thing, I’m just trying to speak the truth.” In that regard, he cites unimpeachable inspirations. “John Coltrane playing ‘Alabama,’ even Louis Armstrong talking about what was going on with his people any time he was interviewed. Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter who live by their Buddhist philosophy and try to expand the conscience of their communities. I’m standing on all their shoulders. How dare I come through this life having had the blessing of meeting those men and not take away any of that? Like anybody else, I’d like to play feel-good party music, but sometimes my music is about the reality of where we are.”
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The E-Collective
Terence Blanchard conceived the E-Collective to explore the intersection of jazz, R&B, funk, and fusion, and describes the project as an outlet to satisfy a yearning he’s had for years to explore areas of music that he’s always loved but rarely ventured into. The band is currently made up of Blanchard on trumpet, Charles Altura (guitar), Victor Gould (piano/keyboard), Dale Black (bass), and Oscar Seaton (drums).
Turtle Island Quartet
Since its inception in 1985, the Turtle Island Quartet has been a singular force in the creation of bold, new trends in chamber music for strings. Winner of the 2006 and 2008 Grammy Award for best classical crossover album, Turtle Island fuses the classical quartet aesthetic with contemporary American musical styles, and by devising a performance practice that honors both, the state of the art has been redefined. Nonpareil cellist Yo-Yo Ma has described the quartet as “a unified voice that truly breaks new ground — authentic and passionate — a reflection of some of the most creative music-making today.”
The quartet’s birth was the result of violinist David Balakrishnan’s brainstorming and compositional vision while completing his master’s degree at Antioch College/West. The journey has taken Turtle Island through forays into folk, bluegrass, swing, bebop, funk, R&B, new age, rock, hip-hop, as well as music of Latin America and India. The quartet’s repertoire consists of hundreds of ingenious arrangements and originals. The group has more than a dozen recordings on labels such as Windham Hill, Chandos, Koch, Telarc, Azica, and Blue Note; soundtracks for major motion pictures, TV and radio credits such as the “Today” show, “All Things Considered,” and “A Prairie Home Companion”; feature articles in People and Newsweek magazines; and collaborations with famed artists including trumpeter Terence Blanchard, clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera, vibraphonist Stefon Harris, guitar legends Leo Kottke, Sérgio and Odair Assad, vocal group The Manhattan Transfer, pianists Billy Taylor, Kenny Barron, Cyrus Chestnut and Ramsey Lewis, singers Tierney Sutton and Nellie McKay, the Ying Quartet, and the Parsons and Luna Negra Dance companies.
Another unique element of Turtle Island is their revival of venerable improvisational and compositional chamber traditions that have not been explored by string players for nearly 200 years. At the time of Haydn’s apocryphal creation of the string quartet form, musicians were more akin to today’s saxophonists and keyboard masters of the jazz and pop world — improvisers, composers, and arrangers. Each Turtle Island member is accomplished in these areas of expertise.
As Turtle Island members continue to refine their skills through the development of repertory by some of today’s cutting-edge composers, through performances and recordings with major symphonic ensembles, and through a determined educational commitment, the Turtle Island Quartet stakes its claim as the quintessential new-world string quartet of the 21st century.
Adrienne Danrich
The voice of Midwest Emmy-winning soprano Adrienne Danrich has been described by Opera News as “fresh liquid-silver” and “meltingly tender in its high, floating vulnerability.”
Danrich made her San Francisco Opera stage debut as Micaela in Bizet’s Carmen after having covered in two of the company’s prior seasons as Elisabeth in the French version of Verdi’s Don Carlos and Liù in Puccini’s Turandot.
In 2007, Danrich received a commission from Cincinnati Opera to write and perform a one-woman show: This Little Light of Mine: The Stories of Marian Anderson and Leontyne Price. The production, a live documentary, premiered at the Cincinnati Opera and has since been presented over 50 times in various venues nationwide including The Mann Center for the Performing Arts as the opening act for the Philadelphia Orchestra, Next Act Theater, Antioch College, Central State University, Jackson State University, The University of Southern Mississippi, and Wright State University, as well as a newly orchestrated version with the Chamber Orchestra of Laredo. Milwaukee PBS filmed and later televised This Little Light of Mine in February 2011, and Danrich won a Midwest Emmy for outstanding achievement for on-camera talent as a performer and narrator. PBS in Cincinnati also filmed an original televised version of the show.
Danrich received her second commission from Indiana University of Pennsylvania Lively Arts series in 2010. An Evening in the Harlem Renaissance had its debut in February 2011 and was extraordinarily well received. She has since performed An Evening in the Harlem Renaissance at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in a collaborative production between Cincinnati Opera and the Taft Museum, which included students and faculty from her alma mater, the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Danrich also performed the show at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and had a four-show run at the Next Act Theater.
Danrich made her professional debut as Pamina in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte with the Kentucky Opera while still a part of the artist diploma program at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Her vocal finesse and musicality have garnered her much success in the Mozart repertoire. She made debuts with Sarasota Opera, Opera Pacific, and Dayton Opera as the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro, and her Lyric Opera of San Antonio debut as Fiordiligi in Cosi fan tutte. Danrich returned to the Dayton Opera stage as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni.
Most recently, Danrich sang the role of Serena in Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess with Dayton Opera, Sister Rose in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking with Fort Worth Opera, Patience in excerpts from Paula Kimper’s Patience & Sarah with American Opera Projects, and Tamara in a reading of excerpts from Stefania de Kenessey’s developing opera The Bonfire of the Vanities. Danrich has also sung the role of Rosalinde in Strauss’ Die Fledermaus with Lyric Opera of San Antonio, Azelia in Still’s Troubled Island for the William Grant Still Festival, and Mrs. Gloop in the workshop of Peter Ash’s opera The Golden Ticket. With Cincinnati Opera, she performed the High Priestess in Verdi’s Aida, Anna in Verdi’s Nabucco, Cilla in excerpts from Richard Danielpour’s Margaret Garner, and understudied the role of Mimi in Puccini’s La Bohème. Danrich also performed with Kenya Opera in various venues throughout Africa in Nairobi and Mombasa.
On the concert stage, Danrich has performed selections from Porgy and Bess with Sir Willard White and the San Francisco Symphony, the Rigoletto quartet and Porgy and Bess suite with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Brahms’ Requiem with the Cape Cod Symphony, Bryan Symphony and the St. George’s Choral Society, The Ordering of Moses and selections from Die Fledermaus with the Dayton Philharmonic, the Bachianas Brasileiras with Fort Wayne Philharmonic and The Orchestra of St. Luke’s Outreach, Dido in Dido and Aeneas with Orchestra of St. Luke’s Outreach, John Carter’s Cantata with Louisville Orchestra, Home for the Holidays with Cincinnati Symphony, and opera Galas with the Laredo Philharmonic, Hartt Symphony and Hamilton Fairfield Symphony.
Danrich made her soloist debut at Carnegie Hall with the New England Symphonic Ensemble in Beethoven’s Mass in C major and Mozart’s Mass in G major. She made her Alice Tully Hall debut with The Little Orchestra of New York performing arias and duets by Vivaldi. Danrich sang her first Beethoven Symphony No. 9 with the Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra and the Cape Cod Times raved, “Young soprano Adrienne Danrich … added a glistening top to the ensemble work and sang solo passages with an unforced bell-like tone that penetrated to the far corners of the hall.”
Danrich is a native of St. Louis, Missouri, and is an alumna of Eastman School of Music and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She has recorded “Only Heaven” by Ricky Ian Gordon with PS Classics, “Age to Age” with OCP Publications, “Original Songs of Sacred Slumber and Solitude” with Soli Deo Gloria Productions, and a tribute to William Warfield with the Eastman School of Music.
Justin Austin
Following the world premiere of Damien Geter’s American Apollo at Des Moines Metro Opera (“a galvanizing, herculean performance,” Opera Today) and appearances at Caramoor and the Sag Harbor Song Festival in summer 2024, Justin Austin began the 2024-2025 season with his house debut at the LA Opera as Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette, returning to the company later in the season in his role debut as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte. He will also return to Opera Theatre of St. Louis for the world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon’s This House, starring as Lindon. In concert, he returns to Carnegie Hall for Brahms’ Deutsches Requiem with the Cecilia Chorus of New York, and he joins for selections from Terence Blanchard’s Champion and Fire Shut Up in My Bones at La Jolla Music Society, The Soraya, and the Charleston Gaillard Center. Austin also returns to Stuttgart, Germany, for a concert with the Stuttgart Philharmonic and Opera for Peace, and co-artistic directs My Brother’s Keeper with New York Festival of Song at Kaufman Music Center, an event he personally conceived. He appears in recital at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum at Washington University (St. Louis, Missouri), Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and Emory & Henry University for a special concert with his father, Michael Austin.
Last season, Justin Austin starred as Young Emile in Lyric Opera of Chicago’s premiere of Terence Blanchard’s Champion to great critical acclaim. He returned to the Metropolitan Opera, opening their season as the Motorcycle Cop in the company’s premiere of Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking in a new production directed by Ivo van Hove and conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Austin also appeared at the Washington National Opera making his role debut as Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette. He also sang the title role in The Barber of Seville at Opera Theatre of St. Louis and performed in the New York premiere of Damien Geter’s song cycle Cotton alongside Denyce Graves at the 92nd Street Y. In concert, Austin gave the Marian Anderson Vocal Award Recital at the Kennedy Center as the 2024 recipient, and he gave concerts with Houston Grand Opera, Strathmore and Washington Performing Arts, the Kimmel Center, and Des Moines Metro Opera. He gave recitals with pianist Howard Watkins at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, the Longy School of Music with the Celebrity Series of Boston, Gore Recital Hall (at the University of Delaware, Master Player’s Concert Series), and Spivey Hall (Clayton State University in Georgia).
Favorite highlights of recent seasons include: making his house debut in the company premiere of Brett Dean’s Hamlet at The Metropolitan Opera, with a return as Ned Keene in Peter Grimes; house and role debuts as Charles in Fire Shut Up in My Bones at Lyric Opera of Chicago; the new edition by Damien Sneed of Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, playing the roles of Scott Joplin/Remus; as George Armstrong in Lynn Nottage and Ricky Ian Gordon’s Intimate Apparel at Lincoln Center Theater, which earned him a Drama Desk Award nomination; Damien Geter’s Cotton alongside Denyce Graves with Lyric Fest in Philadelphia and Washington Performing Arts at The Kennedy Center; as Captain Macheath in a film adaptation of Kurt Weill’s The Threepenny Opera produced by City Lyric Opera; and the world premiere and commercial recording of Jack Perla and Rajiv Joseph’s Shalimar the Clown at Opera Theatre of St. Louis, where he created the role of Pyarelal Kaul.
In concert, Austin previously presented a solo recital at the Park Avenue Armory with pianist Howard Watkins, and he has appeared in the title role of Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Oratorio Society of New York and as the baritone soloist in Margaret Bonds’ The Ballad of the Brown King with the Cecilia Chorus, both at Carnegie Hall. He has been featured with The Met Opera, LA Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, Glimmerglass Festival, Opera Maine, Opera Saratoga, Mistral Music, Voices of Ascension, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Copland House, and Strathmore Music Center, plus the Hamburg International, Penn Square, Lakes Area, and Moab Music festivals. Austin has previously joined Idagio for online concerts at the Global Concert Hall.
As a multifaceted musician, Austin enjoys performing a wide range of repertoire, from jazz, R&B, and musical theater, to opera and oratorio. He has collaborated, performed, and recorded with multiple groups and artists such as Aretha Franklin, The Boys Choir of Harlem, Mary J. Blige, Elton John, Lauryn Hill, The Roots, Thirty Seconds to Mars, John Cale, Ricky Ian Gordon, Kanye West, Avner Finberg, M. Roger Holland, Jack Perla, Peter Andreacchi, and Odaline de la Martinez, plus jazz legends Reggie Workman, Hugh Masekela, and Wynton Marsalis.
Austin strongly believes in utilizing his artistry to benefit music programs, new music projects, and community services worldwide. He works with organizations such as Meet Each Need with Dignity, Quality Services for the Autism Community, Holt International, and St. Mary’s Children’s Hospital to construct and perform benefit concerts. The proceeds of these projects supply emergent living essentials to those in need.
Austin has received accolades and awards from The Recording Academy, NAACP, George London Foundation, Washington National Opera, Opera Ebony, Gerda Lissner Foundation, Manhattan School of Music, NANM, Choir Academy of Harlem, and Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts. He is the winner of the St. Louis Theater Circle 2025 Outstanding Achievement in Opera award for his appearance in The Barber of Seville at Opera Theatre of St. Louis, and he’s the recipient of a 2023 Mabel Dorn Reeder Award from Opera Theatre of St. Louis which goes to “the single artist in each season with the greatest potential to make a significant contribution to the art form of opera.” Austin is under the tutelage and mentorship of Catherine Malfitano.
Born in Stuttgart, Germany, Austin is an alumnus of the Choir Academy of Harlem, Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, Heidelberg Lied Academy, and Manhattan School of Music (Master of Music and Bachelor of Music).
Andrew F. Scott
Andrew F. Scott is an artist and educator working at the intersection of digital fabrication technologies and traditional fine arts practice. Trained in sculpture, he employs laser cutters, CNC mills, 3D printers, and scanning to fabricate objects, create installations and immersive visual experiences using projection mapping. Scott’s creative practice spans more than three decades. Working at a variety of scales and in diverse materials, he creates work that is both technically compelling and socially relevant. Scott’s work has been exhibited worldwide in galleries, museums, and other venues. He has completed several permanent public art projects and participated on design teams with architects and engineers on major civic projects. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Scott currently resides and works in Dallas.
An Interview With Terence Blanchard
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About Us
The Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts is an award-winning, 1,700-seat theater that opened in 2011 and was designed by HGA Architects and Engineers. In 2017, a transformative gift by Younes and Soraya Nazarian dubbed the venue The Soraya (formerly the Valley Performing Arts Center). A vibrant performance program has served to establish The Soraya as the intellectual and cultural heart of the San Fernando Valley and its 1.8 million residents, and further establish The Soraya as one of the top arts companies in Southern California.
The Soraya’s 2024-25 Season boldly advances the immersive sound of big orchestras; the free flow of jazz; an array of dance; and a cultural bounty drawn from the well of world traditions. The Soraya continues its vigorous commitment to innovating, excelling, and amplifying access by offering a wide variety of performances that reflect LA’s many distinctive communities and featuring new and original work from the Los Angeles region as well as artists from around the world.
Located on the vibrant campus of the California State University, Northridge, The Soraya and the Mike Curb College of Arts, Media, and Communication share an integral link that enhances student opportunities in the arts and performing arts. This partnership fosters academic opportunity and artistic excellence, elevating the talents of CSUN’s students.
A $5 million contribution from record producer and former California Lieutenant Governor Mike Curb was pivotal in ensuring The Soraya was completed and opened in 2011. For his founding support and in acknowledgment of the integral relationship between the Mike Curb College and The Soraya, Curb is recognized as one of The Soraya’s Cornerstone Benefactors. The relationship between The Soraya and the Mike Curb College continues to grow, with robust offerings for students through master classes, student tickets, concerts of student ensembles, and students appearing alongside renowned artists, such as Wynton Marsalis, Aida Cuevas, and Martha Graham Dance Company.