RANDOLPH — Less than a century ago, African American composer William Grant Still Jr. was a celebrated figure in classical music.
A graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music who composed roughly 200 works, Still was the first African American composer to conduct a major American symphony orchestra and the first to have an opera staged by a major company.
But despite Still’s success, his work has fallen into obscurity in recent decades.
A multi-year collaboration between Opera Vermont and Chandler Center for the Arts seeks to reintroduce Still’s work to the public by staging each of his nine operas, beginning this Friday and Saturday with performances of “A Bayou Legend.”
A rural Vermont town such as Randolph is perhaps an unlikely place to pay homage to a composer who was born in Mississippi and raised in Arkansas, but that’s not how Joshua Collier, Opera Vermont’s artistic director, sees it.
“As artistic leader, I can take chances…And generally the Vermont audiences come with me,” said Collier, who founded the Brandon, Vt.-based company, originally called Barn Opera, in 2017.
Initially, Opera Vermont and the Chandler planned to stage only “A Bayou Legend,” but when Still’s daughter Judith Anne Still, who owns the rights to her father’s work, offered access to his other operas, Collier and Powell decided to create a multi-year cycle.
Each year, the two companies will produce one of Still’s operas, many of which have rarely been staged.
“A Bayou Legend” was first performed in 1974 by Opera/South, based at Jackson State University in Mississippi, more than 30 years after it was composed, and only a few years before Still’s death, in 1978.
Set in the Mississippi Delta, with lyrics by Still’s second wife, Verna Arvey, the opera follows the bitter Clothilde, who plots to take revenge after she discovers that the man she loves, Bazile, has become romantically entangled with a spirit named Aurore.
“She has a lot of harshness and anger, but I’m trying to work to find some soft spots to her, too,” said Maria Clark, who plays Clothilde.
When Bazile refuses to be with her, Clothilde arranges for the townspeople to have him lynched.
“I’m struggling with that a little bit, especially with the history of hangings of Black men from slavery through the Civil Rights movement,” said Clark, whose previous credits include the role of Strawberry Woman in Opera Comique and Opera Atlanta’s international tour of “Porgy and Bess.”
Maybe Still was trying to draw attention to that part of American history through the character of Bazile, Clark added.
Clark will perform opposite Albert Lee, the associate dean for student life and community engagement at Yale School of Music, who plays Bazile, while Nina Evelyn, who recently appeared as Frasquita in Maryland Opera’s “Carmen,” will take the stage as Aurore.
Cailin Marcel Manson, Opera Vermont’s music director and the chair of vocal studies at Bard College’s Longy School of Music, will conduct the weekend’s performances. Manson is also the one who suggested that Opera Vermont stage “A Bayou Legend,” Collier said.
Like much of Still’s work, the score of “A Bayou Legend” is a blend of jazz and classical idioms, a style that would go on to influence composers such as George Gershwin.
“It really is a beautiful synthesis of what you expect from a romantic Italian opera with these very beautiful American harmonies,” Collier said.
The multi-year project to revive Still’s work is also an opportunity to bring opera to rural Vermont.
“We’re not really on the tourist map, but we’ve got a vibrant art scene,” Chandler’s Executive Director Chloe Powell said of Randolph.
To her knowledge, this is the first time Chandler has staged a full opera in recent years.
“We want to encourage people to have fun and get dressed up and have a fun night out because it’s so rare that the opera comes to town,” she said.
Producing work in rural towns across the state is a major focus at Opera Vermont. In addition to Chandler, the company also has performances coming up in Barre, Vt., and Greensboro, Vt.
“I want to be very clear that I have not gone to Burlington,” Collier said. “Because Burlington is so inundated with all cultural activities and there are so many other places within our state that do not have access.”
Since the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, following the killing of George Floyd, Clark has observed a revival of African American composers.
But there’s still a long way to go, Collier said.
Opera companies are “so held by their donor base” that they’re often reluctant to take risks when it comes to their programming, he said.
But Collier isn’t so concerned with what audiences make of the project.
“The point is not to placate an audience and to make them comfortable; the point is that this is something that has never been done before,” he said.
“A Bayou Legend” is up at Chandler Center for the Arts at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 14 and at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 15. For tickets ($25-$65) and more information, go to chandler-arts.org or call 802-728-9878.
More Upper Valley opera
Opera North recently announced its lineup for next year’s Summerfest. The Cornish-based company will perform Rossini’s comedic fairy tale “La Cenerentola,” which is also on Opera Vermont’s 2026 slate, the American western “The Ballad of Baby Doe,” and the Broadway classic “Fiddler on the Roof.” Ticket subscriptions go on sale Nov. 14. To learn more, go to operanorth.org.
Strumming in South Royalton
Singer-songwriter Nate Mott is set to perform this Friday at First Branch Coffee in South Royalton, where he’s also a resident. Mott will be joined by Corinth musician Matt Denton and Fez Silk, of South Royalton, who will open the show at 7 p.m. An after-party will follow the performance at 9 p.m. Tickets are $5 at the door. Audience members are encouraged to bring their own beverages. For more information, visit Mott’s Instagram page @natemottmusic.
That same night, Court Street Arts will host Reese Fulmer and the Carriage House Band, an indie folk project hailing from upstate New York, at Alumni Hall in Haverhill. A dinner of beef stew and potato pesto frittata will be served at 6 p.m., followed by the show at 7:30 p.m. For tickets ($20 for the show and an additional $20 for dinner) and to learn more, go to courtstreetarts.org.
A film about image(ist)s
A screening of “Hairy Who and the Chicago Imagists,” a 2013 documentary about a group of avant-garde artists known as the Imagists that came up in the Second City during the ’60s, is slated for 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 20 at Pentangle Arts in Woodstock. The screening is part of Art in Film, an ongoing series in collaboration with the Hall Art Foundation in Reading, Vt. For tickets ($12; $10 for students and seniors; $8 for Pentangle members) and to learn more, go to pentanglearts.org or call 802-457-3981.