Creators in Conversation with OperaCréole & Opera Lafayette
Givonna Joseph, founder and artistic director, OperaCréole
Eldric Bashful, general director, Opera Ebony
Patrick Quigley, conductor
Lisa Mion, managing director, Opera Lafayette
OperaCréole
OperaCréole is an award-winning nonprofit founded in 2011 by the mother-and-daughter team of Givonna Joseph and Aria Mason. The company is dedicated to researching and performing lost or rarely performed works by composers of African descent. The company focuses on works by free 19th-century New Orleans composers of color and also promotes Louisiana's Creole language and culture.
The word Créole means "native to the place," and, in keeping with the spirit of the word, OperaCréole's singers are professional artists, educators, and international soloists with roots in New Orleans, America's "first city of opera." (The first opera performed in what is now the United States took place in New Orleans in 1796.)
OperaCréole's groundbreaking work, including the 2017 production of Lucien Lambert's lost opera La Flamenca (1903), has been acknowledged nationally by NPR, The New Yorker, and the AfriClassical blog. In 2017, the company's founders were named among the Southerners of the Year by Southern Living, and OperaCréole has received numerous awards for contributions to the operatic sphere.
Opera Lafayette
Opera Lafayette is an American period instrument ensemble focused on the French 18th-century opera repertoire and its precursors, influences, and artistic legacy. Opera Lafayette inspires a love of this repertoire by presenting rediscovered masterpieces and creating a recorded legacy of its work. Opera Lafayette performs at the highest level of artistic excellence in major theaters in Washington, New York, and international venues. Opera Lafayette educates and creates new audiences for its repertoire by making opera accessible to the general public, families, young people, and underserved audiences through its educational and engagement programs and performances in low-cost alternative venues.
Marc A. Scorca, OPERA America President/CEO
Marc A. Scorca joined OPERA America in 1990 as president and CEO. Since that time, the OPERA America membership has grown from 120 opera companies to 3,500 organizations and individuals. Under his leadership, OPERA America has administered two landmark funding initiatives in support of the development of North American operas and opera audiences and launched an endowment effort in 2000 to create a permanent fund dedicated to supporting new works and audience development activities. In 2005, Scorca spearheaded OPERA America’s relocation from Washington, D.C. to New York City and the subsequent construction of the National Opera Center, which opened in 2012 and serves 80,000 guests each year. The Opera Center’s recital hall was dedicated as Marc A. Scorca Hall in 2015 in honor of Scorca’s 25th anniversary with the organization.
Scorca has led strategic planning retreats for opera companies and other cultural institutions internationally, and has participated on panels for federal, state, and local funding agencies, as well as for numerous private organizations. He also appears frequently in the media on a variety of cultural issues. A strong advocate of collaboration, Scorca has led several cross-disciplinary projects, including the Performing Arts Research Coalition and the National Performing Arts Convention (2004 and 2008). He is currently a member of the U.S. delegation to UNESCO. Scorca serves as an officer on the boards of the Performing Arts Alliance and the Curtis Institute of Music, and is on the Music Advisory Board of Hunter College (CUNY). Scorca attended Amherst College, where he graduated with high honors in both history and music.
