The Time of Our Singing

1939, African-American contralto Marian Anderson delivers her legendary performance before a huge crowd at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. This is where David Strom and Delia Daley meet. He is an immigrant German-Jewish physicist. She is a young, Philadelphia-born African-American woman with a sublime voice. Out of their shared passion for music grows a love story and, ultimately also, a warm family with three children: Jonah, who will become a talented tenor, Joey a pianist, and Ruth, an activist who will fight segregation. Theirs is the chronicle of a mixed family both united and divided by music in the turbulence of post-war America.

Cast

An opera by Kris Defoort
Libretto by Peter van Kraaij
Based on the novel by Richard Powers
Premiere: La Monnaie 14.9.2021

Conductor KWAMÉ RYAN
Director TED HUFFMAN

Set design JOHANNES SCHÜTZ
Costumes ASTRID KLEIN
Lighting BERND PURKRABEK
Video PIERRE MARTIN
Choreography ALAN BARNES
Dramaturgy PETER VAN KRAAIJ & ANTONIO CUENCA RUIZ
Sound VINCENT DE BAST

Delia Daley CLARON MCFADDEN
William Daley MARK S. DOSS
David Strom SIMON BAILEY
Jonah LEVY SEKGAPANE
Joey PETER BRATHWAITE
Ruth ABIGAIL ABRAHAM
Lisette Soer LILLY JØRSTAD
Robert Rider HERVÉ LOKA SOMBO (silent role)

La Monnaie Chamber orchestra
Jazz quartet (Robin Verheyen, Lander Gyselinck, Nicolas Thys, Hendrik Lasure)
Equinox children's chorus led by Zeno Popescu

Production DE MUNT / LA MONNAIE
Co-production LOD MUZIEKTHEATER, THEATER ST.GALLEN