by Mike Telin

When composer Nkeiru Okoye first began thinking about setting the life of Harriet Tubman to music she was certain it would take the form of an oratorio. “When I first had the idea to tell her story in music, I thought I would link spirituals together with some dialogue, and I would have this amazing piece,” Okoye told us during a telephone conversation from New Paltz, N.Y., where she is Director of Music Theory and Composition at SUNY New Paltz. “But I found out that that piece had been written already, so I needed to find a different angle.”

Over the next two weekends, Northeast Ohio audiences can experience the story of Harriet Tubman when Cleveland Opera Theater’s New Opera Works, in collaboration with Oberlin Opera Theater, presents the Midwest premiere of Nkeiru Okoye’s Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed that Line to Freedom. The opera is presented as part of Oberlin College’s Africana Unity and Celebration Month. Harriet Tubman, which premiered in New York City in February 2014, tells the story of the influential former slave and her rise to a pivotal role in the Underground Railroad. [Read more…]