Louder: Terence Blanchard Makes History at the Met

September 24, 2021

By Caryn Ganz

Pop Music Editor

(Passing the mic to our classical editor, Zachary Woolfe, for a moment.)

The Metropolitan Opera opened in 1883, and in its 138 years, it has put on some 300 titles. Not one has been by a Black composer.

Until now. On Monday, Terence Blanchard, the jazz trumpeter who’s best known as Spike Lee’s right-hand scorer, is reopening the opera house after its 18-month pandemic closure with “Fire Shut Up in My Bones,” which embeds a jazz quartet in the Met’s orchestra. When we spoke recently, Blanchard talked about the bittersweetness of the belated milestone: “I’m honored,” he said, “but I’m not the first qualified person to be here, that’s for sure.”

With cultural institutions under the microscope about their approaches to diversity, the Met rushed the lush and lyrical “Fire,” based on New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow’s memoir about his turbulent upbringing, into production a couple of years earlier than planned. “Without doubt the Black Lives Matter movement had a big impact,” said Peter Gelb, the company’s general manager.

This first opera by a Black composer will be followed swiftly by a second: Anthony Davis’s “X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X,” written in the 1980s, will arrive at the Met in 2023. Three of the composer’s in the company’s commissioning program with Lincoln Center Theater are Black, and Gelb said he was interested in presenting more operas by Davis, Blanchard and others.

“The key to all this for me is, I don’t want to be the token,” Blanchard told me. “I want to be the turnkey.”

(Caryn has returned.)

This story is a must-read (and our A&L cover this week!) and it comes with a great sidebar by Giovanni Russonello guiding us to some of Blanchard’s essential listening.

Also this week: Lindsay Zoladz reviews the surprising debut album by Lil Nas X, Isabelia Herrera takes us inside the (awesomely loud) world of Dominican car audio culture, a tune-in-tonight note from the team that brought you “Framing Britney Spears,” and a wildly eclectic slate of features that includes Hugo Lindgren with an update on the long, long, long-delayed next album from the Wrens (or … some of the Wrens), David Byrne on a bike, Moor Mother, JoJo Siwa and Justin Vivian Bond and Anthony Roth Costanzo.

Continue reading the main story

A Black Composer Finally Arrives at the Metropolitan Opera

Terence Blanchard, best known for scoring Spike Lee films, reopens the 138-year-old opera company with “Fire Shut Up in My Bones.”

By Zachary Woolfe

Listen to the Essential Terence Blanchard

Spike Lee scores, daring jazz: Here are highlights from the varied career of the composer of “Fire Shut Up in My Bones” at the Metropolitan Opera.

By Giovanni Russonello

THE CRITICS

Album Review

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After a record-breaking single, a tentative EP, a public coming out and another newsworthy smash, the 22-year-old pop sensation offers a fuller view of his inner world.

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The Playlist

Alessia Cara’s Bouncy Ode to Single Life, and 12 More New Songs

Hear tracks by Coldplay and BTS, J. Cole, Arturo O’Farrill and others.

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Kacey Musgraves, Country Music Chameleon

The singer and songwriter’s “Star-Crossed” documents the end of her marriage. But reports of her divorce from Nashville have been greatly exaggerated.

Live Review

Ron Miles Headlines the Village Vanguard, at Last, as the Club Reopens

The cornetist led a quintet featuring Jason Moran, Bill Frisell, Thomas Morgan and Brian Blade as the 86-year-old establishment came back to life after its pandemic shutdown.

By Giovanni Russonello

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The 18-Year Wait for New Wrens Music Is Over. Sort Of.

The New Jersey indie rockers promised a final album. Their day jobs and families have expanded, but the band’s two creative forces kept writing — separately.

By Hugo Lindgren

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Moor Mother’s Musical Galaxy Grows Even Bigger

Camae Ayewa makes a blend of hip-hop, spoken-word poetry, punk and electro as Moor Mother. In Irreversible Entanglements, she records scalding free jazz. Both have new albums this fall.

By Marcus J. Moore

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When a Minivan Becomes a Music Machine

Inside the world of Dominican car culture, where customized sound systems are an art of their own.

By Isabelia Herrera and Josefina Santos

Bicycle Diaries: Cruising With the ‘American Utopia’ Family

Our intrepid reporter and photographer biked through Queens with David Byrne and some of his castmates ahead of their return to Broadway. Then the skies opened up.

By Melena Ryzik and Cole Wilson

JoJo Siwa Wants to Be ‘a Role Model for People Who Love Love’

At 18, the “Dance Moms” and internet star is returning to reality TV as half of the first same-sex partnership on “Dancing With the Stars.”

By Margaret Fuhrer

A Cabaret Star and an Opera Star Walk Onto a Stage …

The punchline is “Only an Octave Apart,” featuring the unlikely collaborators Justin Vivian Bond and Anthony Roth Costanzo at St. Ann’s Warehouse.

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The New York Times Presents/FX/Hulu

‘Controlling Britney Spears’ Reveals New Details of Her Life Under Conservatorship

A new documentary by The New York Times features interviews with key insiders and people with firsthand information about how the conservatorship controlled the pop star’s life.

OBITUARIES

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She brought her church-rooted soprano and high harmonies to the rock and funk powerhouse best known for the No. 1 hit “Lady Marmalade.”

By Jon Pareles

Barbara Campbell Cooke, 85, Widow of the Slain Sam Cooke, Is Dead

They were teenage sweethearts, but their marriage turned tragic, and when she married the protégé singer Bobby Womack, the publicity was intense and the boos were loud.

By Penelope Green

Those We’ve Lost

Adalberto Álvarez, Latin Dance Music Maestro, Is Dead at 72

He was known as the “Gentleman of Son” because of his infectious enthusiasm for repopularizing the genre considered the bedrock of the Cuban sound.

By Lizette Alvarez

Those We’ve lost

Bennie Pete, Bandleader Who Kept the Beat After Katrina, Dies at 45

A tuba player and the leader of the Hot 8, one of New Orleans’s high-profile brass bands, he brought music to his fellow citizens in the difficult days after the storm.

By Alex Vadukul

Ralph Irizarry, Innovative Latin Percussionist, Dies at 67

A colleague said Mr. Irizarry, who played timbales with Ray Barretto and Rubén Blades and led his own bands, expanded the instrument’s possibilities “to the nth degree.”

By Richard Sandomir

María Mendiola, Half of a Chart-Topping Disco Duo, Dies at 69

“Yes Sir, I Can Boogie,” which she and a fellow ballet dancer recorded under the name Baccara, became one of the disco anthems of the 1970s.

By Raphael Minder

THE R. KELLY TRIAL

R. Kelly’s Trial Is Captivating a Black Audience Online. Here’s Why.

On the internet, both supporters and detractors of the singer have shown intense interest in the criminal trial in Brooklyn.

By Troy Closson

R. Kelly’s Defense Casts Accusers as Liars and Fame-Seekers

In his closing argument, a lawyer for Mr. Kelly compared the case to the struggle for civil rights and urged jurors to “courageously” acquit the singer.

By Troy Closson

R. Kelly Trial Nears End, as Prosecutors Paint Portrait of a Predator

During the first day of closing arguments in Brooklyn, a prosecutor sought to knit together the government’s sprawling racketeering case.

By Troy Closson

NEWS

The Charts

Drake’s ‘Certified Lover Boy’ Holds at No. 1 for a Second Week

The rapper’s latest album repeats at the top of the Billboard 200, and Kacey Musgraves’s “Star-Crossed” opens at No. 3.

By Ben Sisario

BTS Took Center Stage at the U.N. Over One Million Fans Watched Live.

The boy band’s seven members accompanied President Moon Jae-in of South Korea, who designated them as special presidential envoy for future generations and culture.

By Neil Vigdor

FROM STYLES, METRO AND INTERNATIONAL

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‘The trick to crate digging is to simply go at it: Dive into the sections, flip through the jackets and trust your gut.’

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The Saturday Profile

A Celebrated Virtuoso on an Instrument She Wasn’t Meant to Play

The hallowed tradition of kora playing in Sona Jobarteh’s family passed down the male line. One of her teachers dismissed it as “an ethnic thing.” But it has brought her international acclaim.

By Aina J. Khan