Singing a New Song: Decolonising Opera

Towards the end of the first webinar in the Sadler Seminar Series Telling Stories: Race, ethics, and authenticity, guest speaker Imani Mosely offered the provocation that, for her, “decolonisation of opera as a genre is not possible”. In this webinar, panellists will interrogate this claim, exploring the conditions of opera’s colonial past, and how new opera might position itself critically against this background. Joining the panel are the composers Jasdeep Singh Degun, to continue our conversations about his Orpheus begun in After Orpheus, after Monteverdi, and Robert Fokkens, whose opera Bhekizizwe (2020), a sung monodrama with a libretto by Mkhululi Mabija, is currently being shown in theatres.

Confirmed speakers:

Jasdeep Singh Degun (Musician)

Sam Durrant (School of English, University of Leeds)

Dominic Gray (Projects Manager, Opera North)

Maggie Kubanyiova (School of Education, University of Leeds)

Robert Fokkens (School of Music, University of Cardiff)

Ariana Phillips-Hutton (School of Music)

Edward Venn (School of Music)

The event was held on Zoom, and was open to anyone interested in opera, culture and society.

Event Recording: