Brown Sounds

Hailed by the New York Times as a "mezzo-soprano with a burnished voice and dramatic fervor" and by the San Francisco Chronicle for her "electrifying sense of fearlessness," she will make her La Scala debut in 2022 as Ulrica in Un Ballo in Maschera. Other upcoming engagements, in addition to her return to Los Angeles as Azucena in Il Trovatore, include Azucena at the Glimmerglass Festival and at the Staatstheater Nürnberg, Fricka/Ortrud in Gods and Mortals at the Glimmerglass Festival, Componist in Ariadne auf Naxos at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, La Principessa in Suor Angelica at La Monnaie de Munt, and a role debut as Joan of Arc in Tchaikovsky's Maid of Orleans with Theater St. Gallen. 

Additional credits include Eboli in Verdi's Don Carlos at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, Preziosilla in Verdi's La Forza del Destino at Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse, Leonora in Donizetti’s La Favorite at the Teatro Massimo di Palermo, Marguerite in Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust conducted by Maestro John Nelson with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Costa Rica, Ms. Alexander in Phillip Glass' Satyagraha at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, Kristina in The Makropulos Affair at the Janáček Brno Festival, Wellgunde in Wagner’s Die Ring-Trilogie at Theater an der Wien, Madeline Mitchell in Heggie’s Three Decembers at Opera Maine, and Nezhata in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sadko at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen.

Ms. Bryce-Davis’ concert highlights include the world premiere of Paul Moravec’s Sanctuary Road at Carnegie Hall; which won a Grammy nomination, Verdi’s Requiem with conductor Kent Nagano and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal at the Olympic Stadium, Elgar’s Sea Pictures at the Musikverein in Vienna with the Tonkünstler Orchestra, Verdi's Requiem with the Oratorio Society of New York at Carnegie Hall, the world premiere of Anthony Davis' We Call the Roll with The Lied Society, Martinů’s Julietta with the American Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, Corigliano’s Of Rage and Remembrance at the Aspen Music Festival, the world premiere of Come, My Tan-Faced Children by Melissa Dunphy at Lyric Fest, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky with Maestro Philippe Entremont at Manhattan School of Music, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra.

As a producer/performer Bryce-Davis has released "To the Afflicted," her first music video, which received much critical acclaim and was chosen as an official video for World Opera Day. Her second digital short, “Brown Sounds,” was co-produced with LA Opera and Aural Compass Projects, and won Best Music Video at film festivals around the globe including the New York International Film Awards, New York Cinematography Awards, Hollywood Boulevard Film Awards, the Anatolian Short Film Festival, and the Silk Road Film Awards - Cannes.

Bryce-Davis is a 2018 recipient of the prestigious George London Award at the George London Competition, the 2017 first place and audience prize-winner of the Concorso Lirico Internazionale di Portofino competition; chaired by Dominique Meyer, winner of the 2016 Richard F. Gold Career Grant at the Merola Opera Program, winner of the 2015 Hilde Zadek Competition at the Musikverein in Vienna, and the 2015 Sedat Gürel - Güzin Gürel International Voice Competition in Istanbul. She holds a Master of Music and Professional Studies certificate from the Manhattan School of Music and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Texas at Arlington.

Raehann Bryce-Davis is a co-founder of the Black Opera Alliance and is an advocate for social justice in opera.

Learn more at Raehann.com.

Jérémy Adonis is a French-born filmmaker and photographer based in Belgium. 

After scientific studies and a degree in civil engineering, he moved to Belgium to study the techniques of image and cinematography. He graduated in 2016 with distinction. His short film Son of Icarus, a personal drama, has screened in several different festivals in Europe. Making the film confirmed his passion of directing and tell stories through cinema. He continued honing his directorial skills by directing different projects in the Belgian industry, from music videos, to live concerts, to promotional spots.

Obsessed by aesthetics and visuals art, he also works as a photographer, developing a dark and cinematic universe through his pictures.

In a world surrounded by images, he values each frame that he considers as powerful as paintings in which he can express himself.

Today his main goal is to direct new projects and films, using the power of visual to tell stories, express feelings and reach new emotions.

Learn more at JeremyAdonis.com.

Hailed by the New York Times as a "mezzo-soprano with a burnished voice and dramatic fervor" and by the San Francisco Chronicle for her "electrifying sense of fearlessness," she will make her La Scala debut in 2022 as Ulrica in Un Ballo in Maschera. Other upcoming engagements, in addition to her return to Los Angeles as Azucena in Il Trovatore, include Azucena at the Glimmerglass Festival and at the Staatstheater Nürnberg, Fricka/Ortrud in Gods and Mortals at the Glimmerglass Festival, Componist in Ariadne auf Naxos at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, La Principessa in Suor Angelica at La Monnaie de Munt, and a role debut as Joan of Arc in Tchaikovsky's Maid of Orleans with Theater St. Gallen. 

Additional credits include Eboli in Verdi's Don Carlos at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, Preziosilla in Verdi's La Forza del Destino at Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse, Leonora in Donizetti’s La Favorite at the Teatro Massimo di Palermo, Marguerite in Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust conducted by Maestro John Nelson with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Costa Rica, Ms. Alexander in Phillip Glass' Satyagraha at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, Kristina in The Makropulos Affair at the Janáček Brno Festival, Wellgunde in Wagner’s Die Ring-Trilogie at Theater an der Wien, Madeline Mitchell in Heggie’s Three Decembers at Opera Maine, and Nezhata in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sadko at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen.

Ms. Bryce-Davis’ concert highlights include the world premiere of Paul Moravec’s Sanctuary Road at Carnegie Hall; which won a Grammy nomination, Verdi’s Requiem with conductor Kent Nagano and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal at the Olympic Stadium, Elgar’s Sea Pictures at the Musikverein in Vienna with the Tonkünstler Orchestra, Verdi's Requiem with the Oratorio Society of New York at Carnegie Hall, the world premiere of Anthony Davis' We Call the Roll with The Lied Society, Martinů’s Julietta with the American Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, Corigliano’s Of Rage and Remembrance at the Aspen Music Festival, the world premiere of Come, My Tan-Faced Children by Melissa Dunphy at Lyric Fest, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky with Maestro Philippe Entremont at Manhattan School of Music, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra.

As a producer/performer Bryce-Davis has released "To the Afflicted," her first music video, which received much critical acclaim and was chosen as an official video for World Opera Day. Her second digital short, “Brown Sounds,” was co-produced with LA Opera and Aural Compass Projects, and won Best Music Video at film festivals around the globe including the New York International Film Awards, New York Cinematography Awards, Hollywood Boulevard Film Awards, the Anatolian Short Film Festival, and the Silk Road Film Awards - Cannes.

Bryce-Davis is a 2018 recipient of the prestigious George London Award at the George London Competition, the 2017 first place and audience prize-winner of the Concorso Lirico Internazionale di Portofino competition; chaired by Dominique Meyer, winner of the 2016 Richard F. Gold Career Grant at the Merola Opera Program, winner of the 2015 Hilde Zadek Competition at the Musikverein in Vienna, and the 2015 Sedat Gürel - Güzin Gürel International Voice Competition in Istanbul. She holds a Master of Music and Professional Studies certificate from the Manhattan School of Music and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Texas at Arlington.

Raehann Bryce-Davis is a co-founder of the Black Opera Alliance and is an advocate for social justice in opera.

Learn more at Raehann.com.

Singer, songwriter, cellist Ayanna Witter-Johnson is a rare exception to the rule that classical and alternative r&b music cannot successfully coexist.

Graduating with a first from both Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and the Manhattan School of Music, Ayanna was a participant in the London Symphony Orchestra’s Panufnik Young Composers Scheme and became an Emerging Artist in Residence at London’s Southbank Centre. She was a featured artist with Courtney Pine’s Afropeans: Jazz Warriors and became the only non-American to win Amateur Night Live at the legendary Apollo Theater in Harlem.

As a composer, she has been commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra, Güerzenich Orchester, Ligeti Quartet, Kronos Quartet, the Hip-Hop Shakespeare Company and as an arranger/orchestrator for the London Symphony Orchestra (Hugh Masekela, Belief!) and the BBC Symphony Orchestra (Urban Classic).

She has released three EPs (‘Truthfully’, ‘Black Panther’ & ‘Ella, Reuben & Ay’) and her debut album ‘Road Runner’ via her own record label (Hill and Gully Records) working with producers Marc Mac (4Hero), James Yarde (Terri Walker, Jamelia, Eric Benet) and featuring artists including pianist Robert Mitchell and rapper Akala. Ayanna has collaborated with several artists including Anoushka Shankar and Nitin Sawhney, extensively toured the UK and several countries in Europe, whilst gaining a MOBO nomination, receiving airplay on stations including BBC Radio 1, 1xtra, 2, 3, 4, 6, BBC London, BBC Manchester, Jazz FM and Scala Radio, TV features on BBC One London News and London Live and producing three commercial music videos via her YouTube channel.

A performer of extraordinary versatility her live shows are intimate journeys that chronicle her experience as a female artist in the 21st century. Because of her musical prowess, mesmerizing vocals, non-compromising lyrics and ability to deftly reinterpret songs on the cello, Ayanna is able to straddle both the classical and urban worlds effortlessly.  She is the definition of eclectic soul.

Learn more at AyannaMusic.com.

“In 1968, a young Black man, Henry Dumas, went through a turnstile at a New York City subway station. A transit cop shot him in the chest and killed him. Circumstances surrounding his death remain unclear. Before that happened, however, he had written some of the most beautiful, moving and profound poetry and fiction that I have ever in my life read.”
—Toni Morrison

Fiction writer and poet Henry Dumas was born in Arkansas, but moved to Harlem when he was 10. He attended City College in New York before joining the Air Force; he was stationed in San Antonio, Texas, and on the Arabian Peninsula. Dumas attended Rutgers University and worked for a year at IBM, then left the company to teach and direct language workshops at Southern Illinois University. He and his wife, Loretta Ponton, had two sons. Identified with the Black Power movement during his lifetime, Dumas was also active in the civil rights movement. At the age of 33, Dumas was shot and killed by a New York City Transit policeman in a case of mistaken identity.
 
Eugene Redmond, a fellow teacher at Southern Illinois University, helped to make Dumas’s work available; posthumous collections of Dumas’s poetry include Play Ebony, Play Ivory (1974) and Knees of a Natural Man: The Selected Poetry of Henry Dumas (1989). Dumas’s poetry is influenced by his interests in African American history, jazz, gospel music, and Arabic culture and mythology (an interest piqued during his time stationed on the Arabian Peninsula), as well as Christianity and the supernatural.
 
Dumas’s short stories are collected in Goodbye Sweetwater: New and Selected Stories (1988) and Echo Tree: The Collected Short Fiction of Henry Dumas (2003).

Courtesy of The Poetry Foundation

Born in paradise, in the "Land of Wood and Water", Jamaica, Allan Virgo was introduced into the world of fashion very early on. His journey began among the heaps and mounds of fabric and patterns in his mother's seamstress and dressmaking business. By the tender age of seven, Allan was already well versed in the art of garment making and construction. Under his mother’s tutelage, he developed and mastered the skill of making beautiful clothes, while understanding the importance of constant innovation and a strong work ethic.

After completing high school in Jamaica, Allan moved to New York where he attended the prestigious Fashion Institute of Technology (F.I.T). He received an associate degree in fashion design, then bachelor of science in international trade and marketing. He began his robust career by playing an integral role on design teams such as Baby Phat by Kimora Lee Simmons, Guess, Michael Kors, Kenneth Cole and Macy’s .

In 2010 through 2013 Allan Virgo returned to his native Jamaica to introduce his spring/summer collections at Jamaica StyleWeek. With an eccentric and unpredictable flair, Allan garnered critical acclaim and stellar reviews in the Jamaica Gleaner, Jamaican Observer, Fashion Bomb Daily Style Magazine, and was featured in Vogue Italia and British Vogue. After a successful debut and with many years of experience, he decided it was time to launch his self-titled outerwear brand based in New York. His philosophy is to be forever committed to innovative design, craftsmanship, functionality and quality that are influenced by American culture and his Jamaican roots. Titled simply "Allan Virgo," his brand is anything but; he is known to challenge the aesthetic of typical ready-to-wear outerwear. The Allan Virgo brand is burgeoning amongst fashion’s elite buyers such as international retailer GILT Japan. Allan's greatest hope for the future is to continue to challenge the norm by blurring the lines of his own artistic expression and wearable fashion while continuing to inspire others through his work. 

Hailed by the New York Times as a "mezzo-soprano with a burnished voice and dramatic fervor" and by the San Francisco Chronicle for her "electrifying sense of fearlessness," she will make her La Scala debut in 2022 as Ulrica in Un Ballo in Maschera. Other upcoming engagements, in addition to her return to Los Angeles as Azucena in Il Trovatore, include Azucena at the Glimmerglass Festival and at the Staatstheater Nürnberg, Fricka/Ortrud in Gods and Mortals at the Glimmerglass Festival, Componist in Ariadne auf Naxos at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, La Principessa in Suor Angelica at La Monnaie de Munt, and a role debut as Joan of Arc in Tchaikovsky's Maid of Orleans with Theater St. Gallen. 

Additional credits include Eboli in Verdi's Don Carlos at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, Preziosilla in Verdi's La Forza del Destino at Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse, Leonora in Donizetti’s La Favorite at the Teatro Massimo di Palermo, Marguerite in Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust conducted by Maestro John Nelson with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Costa Rica, Ms. Alexander in Phillip Glass' Satyagraha at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, Kristina in The Makropulos Affair at the Janáček Brno Festival, Wellgunde in Wagner’s Die Ring-Trilogie at Theater an der Wien, Madeline Mitchell in Heggie’s Three Decembers at Opera Maine, and Nezhata in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sadko at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen.

Ms. Bryce-Davis’ concert highlights include the world premiere of Paul Moravec’s Sanctuary Road at Carnegie Hall; which won a Grammy nomination, Verdi’s Requiem with conductor Kent Nagano and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal at the Olympic Stadium, Elgar’s Sea Pictures at the Musikverein in Vienna with the Tonkünstler Orchestra, Verdi's Requiem with the Oratorio Society of New York at Carnegie Hall, the world premiere of Anthony Davis' We Call the Roll with The Lied Society, Martinů’s Julietta with the American Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, Corigliano’s Of Rage and Remembrance at the Aspen Music Festival, the world premiere of Come, My Tan-Faced Children by Melissa Dunphy at Lyric Fest, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky with Maestro Philippe Entremont at Manhattan School of Music, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra.

As a producer/performer Bryce-Davis has released "To the Afflicted," her first music video, which received much critical acclaim and was chosen as an official video for World Opera Day. Her second digital short, “Brown Sounds,” was co-produced with LA Opera and Aural Compass Projects, and won Best Music Video at film festivals around the globe including the New York International Film Awards, New York Cinematography Awards, Hollywood Boulevard Film Awards, the Anatolian Short Film Festival, and the Silk Road Film Awards - Cannes.

Bryce-Davis is a 2018 recipient of the prestigious George London Award at the George London Competition, the 2017 first place and audience prize-winner of the Concorso Lirico Internazionale di Portofino competition; chaired by Dominique Meyer, winner of the 2016 Richard F. Gold Career Grant at the Merola Opera Program, winner of the 2015 Hilde Zadek Competition at the Musikverein in Vienna, and the 2015 Sedat Gürel - Güzin Gürel International Voice Competition in Istanbul. She holds a Master of Music and Professional Studies certificate from the Manhattan School of Music and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Texas at Arlington.

Raehann Bryce-Davis is a co-founder of the Black Opera Alliance and is an advocate for social justice in opera.

Learn more at Raehann.com.

American dancer Lateef Williams is a member of the corps de ballet at the Opera Ballet Vlaanderen in Belgium. He studied at the Academy of Dance and at the School of American Ballet at Lincoln Center. Previously, he was a member of the Chilean National Ballet, under the artistic direction of Marcia Haydée. He has also performed with major ballet companies including the Ballet de l'Opéra National du Rhin and the Kansas City Ballet. His repertoire includes works by choreographers such as Maurice Béjart, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, William Forsythe and George Balanchine.

South African-born pianist Jeanne-Minette Cilliers has been called “a pianistic poet”, garnering rave reviews for her color-rich and imaginative performances. From a young age, she won top prizes in national and international competitions. These successes culminated in numerous solo performances at prestigious venues such as the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. and the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series in Chicago. She has recorded regularly for the South African Broadcasting Company, and has been featured on SABC television and radio programs.

In high demand as a collaborator, Ms. Cilliers has performed in Austria, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Israel, Japan, Sweden, South Africa, Barbados, and across North America, including festivals and venues such as the Irving S. Gilmore Keyboard Festival, the Ravinia Festival, the Guggenheim Museum, Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in New York City. She has collaborated with artists such as Frans Helmerson, Janos Starker, Martina Arroyo, Håkan Hagegård, David Daniels, Eric Owens, Susan Graham, Joyce Castle, Lise Lindstrom, Lester Lynch, and directors Peter Sellars, David Alden, Peter Konwitchny and Calixto Bieito. 

Ms. Cilliers fosters a strong interest in new music, and has presented several scores in world and North American premieres. Prominent contemporary composers with whom she has worked include Dominick Argento, William Bolcom, Jake Heggie, John Corigliano, Mark Adamo, Sven-David Sandström, Rolf Martinsson, and Mohammed Fairouz. She has recorded Dominick Argento's Andreé Expedition with baritone Håkan Hagegård. From 2011 to 2012 Ms. Cilliers functioned as music director for American Opera Projects’ Composers and the Voice program. In the capacity of principal coach and pianist, she has played an integral part in Santa Fe Opera’s development and summer 2013 premiere of Oscar, a new opera by Theodore Morrison. As head of music, she assisted conductor Titus Engel at Opera Vlaanderen and IRCAM, Paris in the highly anticipated world premiere of Chaya Czernowin's opera Infinite Now. Also at Opera Vlaanderen, she worked with composer Héctor Parra and conductor Peter Rundel on the operatic adaptation of the controversial novel Les Bienveillantes. In this production, staged by Calixto Bieto, Ms. Cilliers also performed the onstage piano part on a flying piano.

After five years as repetiteur for Opera Vlaanderen, Ms. Cilliers is currently spearheading the new Collaborative Piano program at the Royal Conservatory Antwerp, while additionally serving as Studienleiter for the voice department. Previously she has served on the faculty at the Manhattan School of Music, as well as music director for the Martina Arroyo Opera Foundation in New York City from 2005 to 2013. From 2009 to 2010 she was a principal coach and pianist at the Glimmerglass Opera Festival, and between 2011 to 2014, she joined the Santa Fe Opera as a member of their music staff. 

Ms. Cilliers earned her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the University of Michigan with pianist Anton Nel. As a student of Menahem Pressler, she earned an Artist Diploma from Indiana University. She remains the first and only recipient of an Artist Diploma in vocal accompanying from the Manhattan School of Music, where she worked with Warren Jones. 

Ms. Cilliers is based in Antwerp, Belgium, where she lives with her husband, tenor Andrew Richards.