THE ANONYMOUS LOVER Comes to the Philadelphia Opera

Opera Philadelphia will return to the historic Academy of Music in January with the company premiere of The Anonymous Lover, a 1780 opera by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-1799), who is widely regarded as the first Black classical composer known to history. Limited tickets remain available for $11, or a higher price of your choosing as part of the company’s Pick Your Price ticket program, for two performances, on Friday, Jan. 31, at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 2, at 2:00 p.m.

Born in 1745 in the French Caribbean colony of Guadeloupe, Bologne was the son of Anne Nanon, a Black enslaved woman, and George de Bologne de Saint Georges, the French nobleman who owned her. Educated in France, Bologne found his talents in fencing, riding, and above all, music. During the pre-revolutionary period in France, he was considered one of the most important composers of his time — even performing for and teaching the Queen of France herself, Marie Antionette. His life was the subject of the 2023 feature film, Chevalier.

Bologne’s only surviving opera, The Anonymous Lover, is a romantic comedy ahead of its time. When a young widow named Léontine begins to receive a series of passionate letters from a secret admirer, she wrestles with whether she can love again, especially when it becomes apparent her friend Valcour may be the un-signed author. Will love win?

This company premiere stars soprano Symone Harcum in her Opera Philadelphia debut as Léontine, a role she performed to audience and critical acclaim with Minnesota Opera in 2022. She is joined by tenor Travon D. Walker in his company debut as Valcour. Rounding out the comedic cast are baritone Johnathan McCullough, acclaimed director and star of Opera Philadelphia’s 2021 film of David T. Little’s Soldier Songs, as Ophémon; soprano Ashley Marie Robillard as Jeanette; tenor Joshua Blue (2023’s La bohème) as Colin; and mezzo-soprano Sun-Ly Pierce (2022’s Otello) as Dorothée.

Co-produced by Boston Lyric Opera, the production includes a new adaptation by Obie Award-winning Boston playwright Kirsten Greenidge that mixes new English dialogue with the original French singing in a joyful performance told in two acts over 90 minutes with no intermission. The opera holds a key place in the annals of music history as one of the first known operas composed by a Black artist. The Anonymous Lover was Bologne’s most successful and the only one known to have survived over time. The influence of Bologne’s charming work – and the French play by Madame de Genlis on which its libretto was based – can be seen in generations of secret love-letter stories told in movies and musicals it spawned like “You’ve Got Mail” and “The Shop Around the Corner.”

The Anonymous Lover is directed by Dennis Whitehead Darling and conducted by Kalena Bovell, both making their Opera Philadelphia debuts.  Darling is an award-winning stage director working in both opera and theatre in the Unites States and Europe. His recent directing credits include the world premieres of Paul Moravec and Mark Campbell’s Grammy-nominated oratorio Sanctuary Road for North Carolina Opera and composer Damien Sneed and librettist Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton’s Marian’s Song, based on the life of Philadelphia singer Marian Anderson, for Houston Grand Opera. Panamanian American conductor Bovell is “one of the brightest stars in classical music” (CBS). Propelled by a steadfast commitment to musical excellence and community access, Bovell has rapidly ascended to international prominence. Her recent achievements include receiving the prestigious 2024 Sphinx Medal of Excellence—the highest honor bestowed by the Sphinx Organization—and being named a 2022-2024 Awardee of the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship. In a groundbreaking moment, Bovell etched her name in history in 2023 as the first Black woman to conduct an opera in Canada, conducting a world premiere reimagination of Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha.

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