April 24, 2003

Slave’s story comes to life in opera

The results of an extraordinary creative venture involving a celebrated African American composer, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, a distinguished scholar of American history and an acclaimed opera director will be unveiled at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 26, when T. J. Anderson presents his latest opera in a workshop production at Northwestern.

Director Rhoda Levine rehearses a scene with actress Joelle Lamarre.

photo by Jasper Chen

Titled “Slip Knot” and based on historical research by Northwestern historian T. H. Breen, the opera interprets the true story of a Massachusetts slave known only as Arthur who in 1768, at age 21, was executed for the rape of a white woman who never charged him with the crime.

Princeton University Professor Yusef Komunyakaa, a Pulitzer Prize winner whose poetry has been likened to jazz and blues, wrote the libretto. Northwestern School of Music faculty member and internationally known opera director Rhoda Levine will direct.

When Breen made Arthur the subject of a lecture he delivered in 1996 at the National Humanities Center, his analysis struck a chord for composer Anderson, who had already written a history-inspired chamber opera about the life of David Walker, a black activist and writer in Boston who wrote a widely read 1829 treatise urging America’s slaves to rebel against their masters.

At the conclusion of Breen’s lecture, Anderson introduced himself to Breen and asked for permission to turn his research into a “full blown” opera.

President Henry S. Bienen and School of Music Dean Bernard J. Dobroski were quick to see the intrinsic value of the extraordinary project Anderson was proposing and provided funds to help make “Slip Knot” a reality. Anderson went straight to work on the opera’s score and Komunyakaa, whose work has been said to render the thin line between music and poetry invisible, was commissioned to write the libretto.

Rhoda Levine — who two decades ago directed what essentially was the first opera by an African-American composer produced by a professional opera house — will direct professional baritone Eric McKeever as Arthur and Northwestern music students in other roles.

“Slip Knot” will be performed in Levere Memorial Temple, 1856 Sheridan Road, between Chicago Avenue and Hinman Avenue. Tickets are $12 for the general public, $8.50 for senior citizens and Northwestern faculty and staff, and $5.50 for full-time students. To order tickets by phone, call (847) 467-4000. For further information, call the concert office at (847) 491-5441.

Meet the ‘Slip Knot’ creative team

Join the “Slip Knot” creative team to learn about the unlikely and highly collaborative process that transformed a scholarly paper about a little know slave into music and song. History Professor T. H. Breen will moderate a lively pre-production discussion at 2 p.m. Saturday
(April 26) with the opera’s composer T. J. Anderson, librettist Yusef Komunyakaa and director Rhoda Levine.

Free and open to the public, the discussion will take place in Room 109 of the Music Administration Building, 711 Elgin Road, Evanston. A workshop production of “Slip Knot” follows at 7:30 p.m. in Levere Memorial Temple, 1856 Sheridan Road, located immediately east of Alice Millar Chapel on Sheridan Road between Chicago and Hinman Avenues.