Organization

Conductor

Yannick Nézet-Séguin

Kazem Abdullah

Stage director

James Robinson

Singer

Soprano

Angel Blue

Destiny

Loneliness

Greta

Latonia Moore

Billie

Bass-baritone

Will Liverman

Charles Blow

Tenor

Chauncey Packer

Spinner

Briana Elyse Hunter

Ruby

Sinner

Cierra Byrd

Bertha

Norman Garrett

Foreman

Donovan Singletary

Pastor

Kaboom

Baritone

Chris Kenney

Chester

Benjamin Taylor

Terrence Chin-Loy

Chicken Plucker/Adult William

Calvin Griffin

Adult Robert

Rocky Sellers

Errin Duane Brooks

Adult Nathan

Steven Myles

Brittany Renee

Evelyn

Ryan Speedo Green

Uncle Paul

Denisha Ballew

Verna

Marguerite Jones

Young Lovely

David Morgans

Frat Boy

LA Opera

Lyric Opera of Chicago

The Metropolitan Opera

Others

Metropolitan Opera Choir

Orchestra

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

Béarla

Fire Shut Up In My Bones

New York City

United States

Opening Night of the Met’s 2021–22 season was a doubly historic event. Not only was it the return of live opera following an extended closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but it also marked the first performance of a work by a Black composer to be presented by the Met. An adaptation of Charles M. Blow’s harrowing memoir, Fire Shut Up in My Bones is the second opera from six-time Grammy Award–winner Terence Blanchard and follows the young Charles as he navigates adolescence and struggles to overcome a life of trauma. In this performance, recorded as part of the Met’s Live in HD series, Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts an electrifying production co-directed by James Robinson and Camille A. Brown, who also created the staging’s vivid choreography. Baritone Will Liverman gives a breakout performance as Charles, starring alongside soprano Latonia Moore as his mother, Billie; soprano Angel Blue, who portrays the forces of Destiny and Loneliness, as well as Charles’s college sweetheart, Greta; and rising young star Walter Russell III as Charles’s childhood self, Char’es-Baby. Content Advisory: Fire Shut Up in My Bones addresses adult themes and contains adult language.

Grianghraif