He wasn’t even old enough to go to school when he remembers seeing drinking, violence, infidelity, break-ups, all the bad stuff.īut then, it got even worse: at the age of 7, Charles was raped by his teenage cousin, Chester. He felt like an outsider, even within his own family.Īnd family life was not easy. It’s a coming-of-age story about his childhood in Gibsland, Louisiana - a tiny town near the northwest corner of the state.Įven as a very young boy, Charles felt he was different somehow, in the way he walked, the way he talked. As in, ever! Y’all… this was long overdue.įire Shut Up in My Bones is based on the memoir of the same name by New York Time s columnist Charles Blow. Not only is it the first opera to take the stage at the Met after an 18-month closure due to the pandemic, it’s also the first opera by a Black composer the Met has ever produced. It debuted at the Met this fall, and it's a big deal for so many reasons. The opera is a collaboration with librettist Kasi Lemmons, and it had its world premiere in 2019 at the Opera Theatre of St. But Terence Blanchard is the composer of Fire Shut Up in My Bones, and he’s very much with us and on the show today. Now here on Aria Code, we always hear from singers, but never from composers because, well, they’re usually dead. Today, it’s “Peculiar Grace” from Fire Shut Up in My Bones by Terence Blanchard.īLANCHARD: Once you stop chasing something that you’ll never be and accept that who you are is fine and it’s kind of cool, that can be freeing. GIDDENS: Every episode, we unwrap an aria to reveal the gifts inside. Until I could then recognize that I could use my otherness to my advantage. JOHNSON: I identify with Charles’ feelings of being other. GIDDENS: From WQXR and the Metropolitan Opera, this is Aria Code. And there’s a few times, you know, going through the score, where it’s - you’re fighting back the tears because it gets so personal. LIVERMAN: I’ve never played a role where I saw so much of myself and my own story in it. From Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones
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