Opera Exposures to Present Recital Honoring Elizabeth Taylor Browning

Opera Exposures (http://www.operaexposures.org), the not-for-profit opera company founded by Edna Greenwich in 2004, will present a special recital celebrating Elizabeth Taylor Browning, the first African American opera singer to gain recognition in Europe and the United States in the mid to late 19th century, on Sunday, September 18, at 3:00 PM at the Jewish Community Center of Staten Island, 1466 Manor Road. Tickets, available at the door, are $25. Children under ten will be admitted free of charge.

The recital will feature soprano Brandie Sutton, baritone Jorell Williams and Musical Director/pianist JoNathan Kelly. The narrator will be renowned African-American lyric coloratura soprano Harolyn Blackwell. The event will also salute famed soprano Elinor Ross, who will be in attendance.

The concert will focus on Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield (1809-1876), the black American operatic soprano, who became one of the most celebrated singers of her time, in an era when slavery was still widespread. Deemed "The BLACK SWAN", her influence as a singer and a teacher has been felt for many generations since.

Born a slave in 1819 in Natchez, Mississippi, she took the name of her owner, a Quaker, who later freed her while taking her to Philadelphia. The former slave taught herself to play piano, guitar, harp and singing. Possessed with an incredible and powerful 27-note range, she was unable to take singing lessons herself, but she eavesdropped on others' lessons. She traveled to Europe where her manager, who also represented the international Swedish singer Jenny Lind, abandoned her. In London, she introduced herself to Harriet Beecher Stowe, who, in turn, introduced Elizabeth to the Duchess of Sutherland, an intimate of Queen Victoria. After Queen Victoria heard Elizabeth sing she arranged for her to perform a Royal Command Performance at Buckingham Palace on May 10, 1854. That was how she was able to become the first African American singer to gain inter-national recognition, fame and success and she was celebrated during a period when slavery was widespread in the United States.

After she returned to the States, her mistress died, and Elizabeth began singing at private parties and small public concerts, gaining fame (and the title, The BLACK SWAN) in recognition of her astounding repertoire and her remarkaqbly sweet tones and wide compass, as one noted critic of the time wrote. Touring presented a potential danger for her since she could have been captured in some states and be returned as a runaway slavewas still widespread in the United States.

Four thousand people attended her New York debut at Metropolitan Hall on March 31, 1853. They were all white, the people of her own race could not be accomodated. Greenfield apologized to those who were denied the chance to hear her and subsequently gave a concert they could attend to benefit the Home of Aged Colored Persons and the Colored Orphan Asylum. She also opened a music studio in Philadelphia and created and directed an opera troupe in the 1860s. She passed away on March 31, 1876, and her obituary was published in the New York Times.

Narrator

Harolyn Blackwell is a distinguished Metropolitan Opera soprano began her performing career in a Broadway revival of West Side Story in 1980. She was selected as a finalist for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and made her mark at the opera in 1994, when she became a last-minute replacement in La Fille du Regiment. Since then, she has become one of the world's top touring sopranos. Blackwell's album debut came with Strange Hurt, followed by Blackwell Sings Bernstein, a Simple Song.

The Cast

Brandie Sutton (Soprano), hailed by Opera News for her "sumptuous, mid-weight soprano," and The New York Times' Anthony Tommasini for her "warm, ample voice" and "distinctive earthy coloring," first embraced classical music during her undergraduate studies at Oakwood University where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Music with a concentration in voice. She began her professional career with a solo recital St. Maarten and many presentations of Handel's Messiah around the United States. Ms. Sutton has debuted at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in a solo recital in Washington, D.C., Merkin Concert Hall in Lincoln Center and most recently debuted at Carnegie Hall. She has performed with the National Symphony Orchestra, Royal Danish Symphony Orchestra in Copenhagen, Denmark, the Radio Orpheus Symphony Orchestra in Moscow and the Krasnoyarsk Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra in the region of Siberia. Ms. Sutton has also toured and soloed with the internationally acclaimed American Spiritual Ensemble under the direction of Dr. Everett McCorvey and with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra under the baton of Damien Sneed.

Opera performances for Ms. Sutton include the roles of Pamina in Mozart's The Sunshine and Shadows, Musetta and Mimi in Puccini's La Bohème, Giulietta in Offenbach's Les Contes D'Hoffmann, Cio Cio San in Puccini's Madama Butterfly; Clara in George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess at the Grand Théâtre de Genève in Geneva, Switzerland, and Bess at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. Ms. Sutton was a winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council District Auditions and also took 3rd place in the national competition The American Prize. Ms. Sutton believes that she was blessed with a gift from God. She continues to work hard to develop and perfect this gift, and share it with the world.

Jorell Williams (Baritone), hailed for his "magnificent, rich toned" baritone and his "perfect" comic timing, is gaining international success on both the operatic and concert stages. His 2015-16 season brings new repertoire to theaters and venues across the United States. He began the season in his debut with the Eugene Symphony in their 50th Anniversary season for Ginastera's Estancia, followed by Dvorak in America with the South Dakota Symphony, Frediano/Ippolito in John Musto's Bastianello with Rochester Lyric Opera, Morales in Carmen with PORTopera, Songs America Loves to Sing with the Caramoor International Music Festival in Collaboration with Copland House Center for Music, and returned to Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra for Wynton Marsalis' Abyssinian Mass, now released on SONY/Blue Engine Records, in conjunction with the Chautauqua Institution.

The 2015 first place winner of the American Prize and a two-time medal award winner of the American Traditions Competition, Jorell is a recipient of the 2016 Marc and Eva Stern Fellowship at Songfest, and garnered top awards from the Gerda Lissner International Competition, Kurt Weill Foundation, Schuyler Foundation for Career Bridges, Liberace Foundation, Serge Koussevitzky Foundation, David Adams Art Song Competition, Civic Morning Musicals Foundation, and the Charles A. Lynam Competition

JoNathan Kelly (Musical Director/Pianist) is an assistant conductor at The Metropolitan Opera. He has worked in similar capacities at the San Francisco Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Opera Theater of Lucca, and the Chautauqua Institution. Frequently seen in concert, he has appeared with many of today's leading performers, including Elina Garan?a, Susan Graham, Hei-Kyung Hong, Anna Netrebko, Ramon Vargas, Rolando Villazon, Joshua Bell, and Sting. Formerly a lecturer at Yale University, he is a faculty member at the Manhattan School of Music. Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, MR. Kelly spent his formative years in Kentucky. He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and continued his studies at the Manhattan School of Music under the tutelage of Warren Jones.

Founded by Edna Greenwich in 2004, Opera Exposures launched its premier operatic event at Saint Mark's Church with great success. Opera Exposures aims to support young and emerging artists. It is also dedicated to building the audience for opera by presenting concerts in non-traditional venues. The Amsterdam News has praised Edna as "a very enterprising young woman [who] has chosen to address herself to the challenging task of creating a forum for outstanding vocal talents."

Opera Exposures is a not-for-profit 501(c)) (3) arts organization whose Board of Directors include: Edna Greenwich, Founder and Director; Dwight Owsley, Artistic Director; and Carl Sylvestre, Treasurer.

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