Joyce Carter (’69), an esteemed mezzo-soprano, concert artist, and educator, recalled her experience watching Giuseppe Verdi’s “Aida and Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites” as an understudy. During her time as an undergraduate, she auditioned for the Metropolitan Opera and New Orleans Symphony, performing in the role of Bess in a concert performance of “Porgy and Bess” her senior year. She credits her audacious success with her exposure, experience, and mentorship from Xavier faculty. She later received a teaching assistantship and pursued postgraduate study at Indiana University, working and teaching the arts ever since, never giving up on her dream to be an opera singer.

Xavier’s historic opera program allows students to bet on themselves and receive world- class instruction. “It’s an opportunity for them to explore and try [opera], especially if they have that talent,” Carter said. “And if they have that talent, they can come to Xavier and improve it, and grow and develop.” 

After more decades in existence, the XU Opera program began to take a different shape, still continuing to produce renowned performers –the late Debria Brown (’58), noted opera singer who became known for her signature lead role in Bizet’s “Carmen” at New York City Center Opera and Gail Gilmore, who’s performed in opera houses globally, including Teatro de le Fenice, La Scala, and Carnegie Hall. Lavergne Monette (’72), ‘19, another opera great and Xavierite, sung at Metropolitan Opera and New York City Opera Company, touring abroad, and soprano Annabelle Bernard, who spent 40 years with the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Eventually, funding, cultural impacts, shifts in music interests, and faculty might’ve led to a downturn in the program.

A New Era of Xavier Opera 

Always serving with a global view, Xavier has revamped the program to acknowledge its rich history, preparing students today for a multi-skilled future. Career vocalist and performer Sakinah Davis, Ph.D., who is an assistant professor in the Department of Music, is building on the groundbreaking history of Xavier’s opera program. She also wants students to know they can be active in the genre without having to grace the stage as a vocalist. In her Opera Workshop course, which increases students’ awareness and knowledge of their options in the genre, students are exposed to other competencies, skills, and career pathways involved in staged productions, such as lighting and music administration. Performance majors must take at least one semester of an opera workshop, but it’s open to all students for exploration.

Continuing to produce graduates who would go on to become accomplished performers, such as Simone Brown (’15), and Taylor White (’20), the Music Department began rebuilding its opera program, preparing for a production in early 2020, but was stopped by the COVID-19 pandemic. Post-pandemic, Davis and other faculty worked to reorganize the program and ready students for productions, presenting musicals as a gateway to full opera productions.

In Spring 2024, the program put on its first opera in years, “The Pirates of Portsmouth,” an adaptation of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Pirates of Penzance,” revamped to celebrate the history and legacies of HBCUs. As a testament to the program’s swift impact, students, even those not enrolled in the workshop course, were eager to participate.

“They’re (students) very creative and very talented, a number that had musical experience before they got here,” Davis said. “They love building community, so they try to problem-solve. They always have ideas, and some of the suggestions have gotten incorporated into a show.” Rising senior and Liberal Arts—Music major Devin Sloan was part of the Portsmouth cast. He joined Opera Workshop to feed off fellow students’ energy, spending time learning and reviewing lines, eventually joining the cast as a key performer. He says current and incoming students should take advantage of the available unique learning opportunities.

“Being on the stage, as well as singing, was a very fun experience, especially during my first production ever,” the Orlando native says. “I think that [Opera Workshop] is awesome.” 

He encourages current and incoming students to utilize the program’s resurgence. “I see it as building onto a legacy that was already there –and building on a new era. For a long time, these types of things weren’t available, and now that we brought them back, I would say to the student who might be interested or just want to see the show, come out, come support,” Sloan said. “It would be very important, not only just for us, the Xavier community, but the community, overall.”

Looking Forward to Uncovered Possibilities

In her sixth year as a Xavier faculty member, Davis is most excited about the opportunities available to students beyond what meets the eye. Xavier remains on the cutting edge by providing a comprehensive view of the music genre.

“They’re interested in all these different things,” she said. “A lot of them just don’t know the possibilities, and part of it is because traditional music programs focus on performance and skill craft. You can be stage manager, you can perform on stage, or you can come up with your own performance curation. There are so many options.”

Vision-casting, Davis is developing an explicit trajectory to accommodate the many pathways students can take for a viable career in opera. “The thing about opera that’s interesting is that it’s so expansive,” she said. “It involves behind the scenes, singing, acting, instrumental performance, and sometimes it’s hard to get it all in one course. It’s like putting the puzzle together.” 

Reintroducing opera to the community at large through alumni and community engagement and technology is also a priority, as well as making the program sustainable for longevity.

Expanding the program also provides more opportunities to teach the campus environment and extended community about the hidden history of the longtime Black presence in opera.

Davis says the primary goal of Xavier’s opera program is to use the art form “to connect students to reflections of themselves.”