Terence Blanchard's FIRE SHUT UP IN MY BONES to Return to the Met Stage This Month

Following its landmark company premiere during the 2021–22 season, Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones will return to the Met stage on April 8 for seven performances. Its 2021 premiere made history as the first opera by a Black composer to be presented at the Met and won the 2023 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording. Bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green makes his role debut as Charles, following his critically acclaimed performances as Young Emile Griffith in Blanchard’s Champion. In 2023, Green received the Met’s Beverly Sills Artist Award for the second time, in recognition of his extraordinary talent—he also shared the award in 2021 with four other artists. Green is also scheduled to sing Escamillo in the spring run of Bizet’s Carmen, starting May 3.

Soprano Latonia Moore joins Green, reprising the role of Charles’s mother, Billie. She opened the 2023–24 Met season as Sister Rose in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking. The principal cast also features soprano Brittany Renee, who made her debut as Evelyn in Fire’s 2021 run and now portrays the forces of Destiny and Loneliness, as well as Charles’s college sweetheart Greta, and rising young star Ethan Joseph, who made his company debut in Champion in 2023 and sings Charles’s younger self, Char’es-Baby. Maestro Evan Rogister conducts.

Based on the memoir by writer and columnist Charles M. Blow, with a libretto by Kasi Lemmons, the work melds Blanchard’s roots in jazz with operatic tradition to tell the story of a young man’s journey to overcome a life of trauma and hardship, culminating in a fateful decision.

This production was created by co-directors James Robinson and Camille A. Brown, with Brown also serving as choreographer. The creative team also includes set designer Allen Moyer, costume designer Paul Tazewell, lighting designer Christopher Akerlind, projection designer Greg Emetaz, and dramaturg Paul Cremo.

Fridays Under 40

The Met’s Fridays Under 40 series continues on April 12 with a party ahead of the evening performance of Fire Shut Up in My Bones. Available exclusively for operagoers 40 and under, the event features complimentary wine, themed activities, and more. All Friday performances at the Met are available to Fridays Under 40 audiences at special discounted rates. For further details, please click here.

Fire Shut Up in My Bones Broadcasts on Radio and Online

The April 8 performance of Fire Shut Up in My Bones will be broadcast live on Metropolitan Opera Radio on the SiriusXM app. On April 27, a recording of the April 8 performance will be rebroadcast over The Robert K. Johnson Foundation–Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network. Audio from the April 8 performance will also be streamed live on the Met’s website, metopera.org.

Photo credit: Marty Sohl / Met Opera