Staging Baldwin and Buckley: Why Opera? Why Now?
A performance of the opera The Tongue and The Lash and a round-table discussion.
WashU Music, Center for the Study of Race, and Ethnicity & Equity (CRE²), and Opera Theatre of St. Louis present a performance and roundtable discussion of The Tongue & The Lash by composer Damien Sneed and librettist Karen Chilton, commissioned by Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in 2021. The Tongue and The Lash imagines the conversation between James Baldwin and William Buckley immediately following the 1965 debate. In the opera, the two men continue to spar over the meaning of racial freedom in America, maintaining both their dignity and convictions. This opera invites us to reflect on whether, as a nation still grappling with deep divisions, we can preserve the art of civil discourse.
A round-table discussion will immediately follow the performance, moderated by Professor Adrienne Davis, William M. Van Cleve Professor of Law and Professor of Organizational and Behavioral and Leadership, Olin Business School, WashU. The discussion will feature scholars with expertise in opera and the writings of James Baldwin including composer Damien Sneed, distinguished visiting scholar Dr. Naomi André; Nicholas Buccola, Ph.D., Dr. Jules K. Whitehill Professor of Humanism and Ethics, Department of Government, Claremont McKenna College; and Lauren Eldridge Stewart, Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology, WashU.
Free, but advanced registration encouraged.
Cast & Creative Team
Movement Consultant: Olivia Gacka
Music Director/Pianist: Jonathan Heaney
Stage Manager: Emma Fletcher
James Baldwin: Markel Reed
William F. Buckley, Jr.: Andrew Morstein
Adjudicator: Robert Mellon
Header Image Credit: Baldwin and Buckley debate at Cambridge Union, February 18, 1965
This visit is sponsored in part through funding from the Office of the Provost: Distinguished Visiting Scholar Program.
Belonging in Opera is presented by the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, and Washington University’s Department of Music.