Ever since launching our Face the Music program in 2020, The Rhapsody Project has been celebrating and teaching the astounding story of the Fisk Jubilee Singers – a small choir that single-handedly saved Fisk University shortly after its founding in the aftermath of the Civil War. These remarkable Black Americans performed the spirituals across the globe, and raised the money needed for their institution to survive.
In early 2024, one recent Face the Music class alumni, choral director Aimee Mel, advised her fellow board members at Seattle Opera that they should partner with The Rhapsody Project in advance of the institution’s hosting of the world premier of Jubliee. This new opera by Tazewell Thompson tells the story of the Fisk Jubilee Singers while presenting operatic interpretations of dozens of spirituals.
To reach the widest audience possible, Seattle Opera was planning to host a student matinee event during the October 2024 premier week, which would be free to teenagers from across the city. To make this experience more impactful, The Rhapsody Project was tapped to collaborate with Seattle Opera in creating a new curriculum that would get students singing together while learning the history of the spirituals, call and response, and the Fisk origin story.
Lady A and Briar got to work, and throughout the month of the opera’s premier they delivered the new three day residency program in five schools across the city. Students created their own call and response songs. Ingraham High School students created this song:
But that was not all – the partnership also tapped into The Rhapsody Project’s professional development services, and brought together over fifty Seattle Public Schools educators for a full day of free programs that included distilled versions of both Face the Music and Layers of Heritage.
Meanwhile, The Rhapsody Songsters and staff were tapped to perform in the lobby of the McCaw Hall opera house prior to one of the Sunday matinee performances of Jubilee:
On December 7th, this wide-ranging partnership is set to culminate as Seattle Opera serves as one of the co-sponsors for The Rhapsody Project’s year-end fundraiser concert, The Heritage Ball at Black & Tan Hall. There, local opera singer Myah Rose will perform two spirituals and an aria as a part of the evening of songs and stories. Get your tickets today!
Contact info@therhapsodyproject.org if you would like to bring The Rhapsody Project’s call and response singing curriculum to your school or community center!
Listen to this coverage of the Jubliee opera on local NPR affiliate KUOW:
https://www.kuow.org/stories/seattle-opera-brings-the-spiritual-to-the-stage-in
Watch this video for a brief intro to the story of the original Fisk Jubliee Singers:
Read the book Dark Midnight When I Rise to read a page-turning account of the whole story of the Fisk Jubliee Singers.
