Lyric Opera 2025-2026 Issue 5 - BLAC

The gathering of artists for this year’s“Cuzzins Cookout.” Lyric Opera of Chicago | 8 Paying it Forward The Black Leadership Arts Collective (B.L.A.C.) started as a way for Black classical artists to reconnect in the wake of the pandemic. In just a few years, the organization has grown significantly, and now offers masterclasses and mentorship to a select group of young singers from across the country. Here, Executive Director Alyson Cambridge reflects on this concert, marking the group’s second gala, and on the very personal aspect of helping young talent find their way. Echoes of Excellence is quite a collection of talent and repertoire — how did it come about? Late last year, the Board and I were brainstorming about this project and talking about how we wanted to move the gala from a music school here in Manhattan into other major cities around the country. Chicago came up right away. And we said, “Well, if we’re going to be in different cities each year, we should make it specific to each city, right?” So, we decided to pay tribute to some of the greatest Black opera singers who have appeared at Lyric. A great idea — but just a concept at first. Once we got the different artists involved, we knew that we wanted to play on every individual’s strengths. With the great baritone Kenneth Overton, one of our B.L.A.C. Board members, I sent out a survey of repertoire choices and suggestions. Kenneth is encyclopedic in general, but he did his research and we came up with a robust list of the Black operatic legends who have sung at Lyric. Leontyne Price. Some great Verdi men. Jessye Norman. We also asked the current artists for ideas about spirituals or songs