When a 12-year-old student from the Stax Music Academy gets a booking at The Metropolitan Opera, it’s time to listen up.
“2020 was a challenging year for the arts and education in America, but it also saw exciting innovation and fresh collaboration,” reads the explanatory blurb below the YouTube video on the Opera Memphis channel, posted just over a month ago. “Catch up with the members of the first-ever opera class at Stax Music Academy, led by Opera Memphis McCleave Directing Fellow Bethania Baray after their first year together.”
What follows are some simple, charming observations from a few of the voice students involved in the collaborative effort. Those students include one Caleb Thompson, who notes his eclectic interests right from the start. “My favorite thing about Stax is, I get to learn all types of genres, not just soul,” he says in the video. “I get to learn about pop, jazz, blues and other different genres.”
He also reveals just how new he was to opera as it began, remembering that he exclaimed to himself, “They don’t got mics? What?” As he discovered, “They’re here, people are back there, and they have to sing that loud so that they can hear. That’s loud. I didn’t know that they had to project that loud!”
As he further explains in the interview, what drew him to the operatic tradition was its emphasis on the dramatic arts. “I thought opera would help me as an actor. I like to act, and most operas have to do with acting … they’re kind of the same thing.”
It all seems somewhat prophetic now. The Stax Music Academy (SMA) has just announced that, only one year after enrolling in the opera class, the youngster will join the roster of the most prestigious opera house in the country, The Metropolitan Opera in New York City.
The Met will begin its 2021-22 season with Fire Shut Up in my Bones by award-winning jazz musician and composer Terence Blanchard, running from September 27th to October 23rd. This piece marks the Met’s first performance of an opera by a Black composer in its nearly 140-year history. Blanchard’s adaptation of Charles M. Blow’s poignant memoir features a libretto by filmmaker Kasi Lemmons and will star baritone Will Liverman as Charles (2020 Marian Anderson Vocal Award winner; 2019 Sphinx Medal of Excellence) and sopranos Angel Blue as Destiny (Grammy award winner, Bess in Porgy and Bess) and Latonia Moore as Billie (Grammy award winner, Serena in Porgy and Bess).
Thompson will understudy the role of Char’es-Baby, the production’s only singing role for a child. After a search that included hundreds of young applicants, he persevered through numerous auditions and callbacks to secure his place in this historic production.
“What a privilege to help expand this relationship with Stax Music Academy and offer an opera ensemble class.” Baray says, “I knew these students would be one-of-a-kind, but students like Caleb have completely surpassed my expectations. Two semesters later, I find myself meeting with Caleb via Zoom to coach his audition for a role at the largest opera house in the world. He is incredibly hard working and talented, and I could not be more elated for him.”
The relationship with Opera Memphis and Stax stretches back to 2011, when SMA students were part of a performance of Tosca at The Orpheum. Since then students have performed as a part of numerous Opera Memphis events, but the class Caleb participated in, the first focused specifically on opera, marked a new level in the relationship between the two institutions.
Working with Stax lead vocal instructor Keia Johnson, Baray developed a new curriculum. Four talented students participated in the year-long class, which took place largely through remote learning due to COVID protocols. Students learned the history of opera, exploring languages and musical styles that were previously unknown to them. The year concluded with a performance of “The Evening Prayer” from Hansel and Gretel, sung by the four students in both English and German.
“Caleb is the kind of student every teacher wants,” says Johnson. “He’s joyful, hardworking, funny, and so talented. But it’s how his family supports him that warms my heart. When Caleb wins, they all rejoice and I consider myself lucky to be a part of his village. I am so proud to teach voice to him but mainly to be someone in his life that gets to see him win. Go Caleb, go!”