The Time of Our Singing Defoort

During Marian Andersons historic concert in front of the Lincoln Memorial in 1939 a white man and a black woman fall in love During the turbulent halfcentury that follows they try to protect their three musically gifted children from prejudices they themselves have suffered Belgian avantgarde jazz pianist and composer Kris Defoorts new opera is a fascinating symbiosis between jazz and classical music deeply rooted in the now Inspired by Richard Powers great American novel The Time of Our Singing tells the story of a mixedrace family against the backdrop of racial segregation in the USA In the world premiere at La Monnaie Ted Hoffmans production lets official history and intimate stories collide to explore issues of identity race and art