Organization

Conductor

Yannick Nézet-Séguin

Stage director

James Robinson

Set designer

Allen Moyer

Lighting designer

Donald Holder

Video designer

Greg Emetaz

Choreographer

Camille A Brown

Singer

Ryan Speedo Green

Kid Emile Griffith

Eric Owens

Emile Griffith

Latonia Moore

Emelda Griffith

Stephanie Blythe

Kathy Hagan

Meredith Arwady

Paul Groves

Howie Albert

Kensho Watanabe

Brittany Renee

Sadie Donastrog Griffith

Krysty Swann

Cousin Blanche

Eric Greene

Benny Paret

Benny Kid Paret

Chauncey Packer

Luis Rodrigo Griffith

Edward Nelson

Young Man in a Bar

Costume designer

Montana Levi Blanco

Lyric Opera of Chicago

The Metropolitan Opera

Orchestra

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

English

Champion

New York City

United States

Metropolitan Opera House

Six-time Grammy Award–winning composer Terence Blanchard brings his first opera to the Met after his Fire Shut Up in My Bones triumphantly premiered with the company to universal acclaim in 2021. Bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green is the young boxer Emile Griffith, who rises from obscurity to become a world champion, and bass-baritone Eric Owens portrays Griffith’s older self, haunted by the ghosts of his past. Soprano Latonia Moore is Emelda Griffith, the boxer’s estranged mother, and mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe is the bar owner Kathy Hagan. Yannick Nézet-Séguin takes the podium for Blanchard’s second Met premiere, also reuniting the director-and-choreographer team of James Robinson and Camille A. Brown.

Production booklet

Further reading