COMPOSER: Larry Delinger
SINGERS: soprano, tenors (2), bass baritones (2)
SCORE: 12-piece chamber ensemble
LENGTH: 1 Act/75M
Art and light tell the story of celebrated African-American painter Beauford Delaney.
At age 23, Beauford Delaney left the segregated South for the heady freedom of the Harlem Renaissance and Bohemian Paris. This gentle soul, plagued by poverty and schizophrenic voices, filled bright canvases with joy and hope, bringing happiness to a multitude of friends including the most famous artists, writers, and musicians of his time. James Baldwin was his spiritual son. His journey out of darkness is a splendid testament to a gifted man in whom, as Henry Miller said, were ‘all the lights, all the stars, all the constellations, all the angels for companions.’
HISTORY: Commissioned by Gathering Light in 2017 and premiered in Knoxville by Marble City Opera in February 2020, the opera has been performed twice.