BWW Recap: Kenny Leon's True Colors Theatre Company Partners with Atlanta Opera in CONCERT FOR UNITY

This weekend, The Atlanta Opera and Kenny Leon's True Colors Theatre Company joined forces to present their Concert for Unity, a celebration of Atlanta's diversity through music. The event featured performances by Morris Robinson, Jasmine Habersham, Ronnita Miller and Joshua Conyers, along with pianist Damien Sneed.

Check out photos from the event below!

Created and led by Atlanta native and renowned bass opera singer Morris Robinson, Concert for Unity featured performances of spirituals, gospel, rock and opera by noted Black opera singers as well as a spoken word performance by actor Enoch King.

The May 8th performance was held at The Atlanta Opera's Big Tent on the grounds of the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center. The May 9th performance was a special outdoors Mother's Day concert on the grounds of the Southwest Arts Center, presented by the City of South Fulton Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs.

In addition to the concerts, the weekend included "Black Voices in Classical Music: A Conversation About Access," a virtual panel discussion on Thursday, May 6th, as part of True Colors' Community Conversations series. The panel, led by noted historian and scholar Dr. Maurice Wheeler and featuring Morris Robinson, discussed the challenges of access for emerging Black opera singers.

"We are honored to have so many internationally acclaimed Black opera voices here in Atlanta and in our Company Players, and we celebrate those artists," said Tomer Zvulun, Carl W. Knobloch Jr. General and Artistic Director for The Atlanta Opera. "Plus, we are delighted to work with True Colors Theatre Company on this concert and hope it's the beginning of a beautiful partnership."

"Every day, we work to celebrate the rich traditions of Black storytelling, while giving voice to bold artists from all cultures," said Brandall C. Jones, Connectivity Director for True Colors Theatre Company. "The threads that run through traditional music also run through classical music. We're excited to create programs with The Atlanta Opera that tie those threads together with bold voices."

Robinson, whose bass is "so deep and assured it's as if a vibration goes through the audience every time he opens his mouth" (Globe and Mail, Canada), has sung on stages around the world, including La Scala and Metropolitan Opera. He is best known to Atlanta audiences for his 2020 turn as Porgy in Porgy & Bess and as the assassin Sparafucile in 2015's Rigoletto.

Miller, a mezzo-soprano who makes her The Atlanta Opera debut in Threepenny Opera, is best remembered for her Metropolitan Opera performances in 2011's Siegfried and Götterdämmerrung. Habersham, known to Atlanta audiences from The Pirates of Penzance and Out of Darkness: Two Remain is frequently credited for her "magnificent" and "dynamic" performances. Conyers, who boasts "a deliciously honeyed baritone that would seduce anyone" (Opera News), also makes his The Atlanta Opera debut in Threepenny Opera.

Social distancing, masks, temperature checks and other health and safety protocols were in effect at both venues.

Visit AtlantaOpera.org or TrueColorsTheatre.org for more information.

Photo credit: Raftermen