LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — This Black History Month, I'm taking a look at Black voices in opera. They've long faced a difficult path to inclusion, and are still underrepresented to this day.
I sat down with a UNLV professor and graduate student who are proving that this space is for them, too.
I met Dr. Alfonse Anderson and his student Christian Shelton in the Professor of Voice's office at UNLV, which is more like a space to rehearse, rather than to hold office hours. It's where the professor and his protege practice pitch, presence, and power. Dr. Anderson was beaming as he watched Christian sing.
"I'm so grateful in my career to at least for sure have a student that I've worked with that can become successful in this field, to say, 'Wow, they really were born to do this,'" Dr. Anderson said. "He has such a wide dimension of ability, and what he does as a singer, his voice speaks to so many people in so many ways."
In his pupil, Dr. Anderson sees a star. And in his professor, Christian sees... himself.
"When it comes to Black men in opera, there has been a little bit, it's taken even more for us to get there. And for my voice teacher to be Black and also a tenor, I just felt comfortable with him immediately," Christian said.
Black singers historically have not had an easy path to acceptance in opera. It wasn't until 1955 that the Metropolitan Opera featured its first Black singer in a leading role in Marian Anderson. Before that, Black singers had only been featured in supplementary roles or in the chorus on the Met stage. Other legends, like Jessye Norman and Leontyne Price, were among the first Black opera singers to achieve international acclaim, and are also considered trailblazers in this genre, which has taken a long time to embrace Black voices.
Dr. Anderson knows firsthand that this space hasn't always been welcoming for people who look like him.
"My junior year, I had an opportunity to audition for the Houston Grand Opera, so I did and I got in the chorus. And I was the only Black person in the chorus because we still had segregation during that time in Texas," Dr. Anderson said.
While representation has improved, studies show there's still work to be done.
In Opera America's 2021 Field-Wide Opera Demographic Report, only about 4% of opera board members surveyed across the U.S. and Canada were Black. Oftentimes, fewer diverse perspectives up top means fewer onstage, too.
"It's more difficult to get people of color to be a part of that when they don't see enough of us in play," Dr. Anderson said.
Dr. Anderson said there's still room for progress, too, when it comes to how Black singers are being cast.
"Opera is hiring more Black people, but to be Black," he said.
"The biggest issue for Black singers has always been the feeling, when I was younger, it was always, 'They can't do that. They have this sound. That's what they can only do.' An idea that, 'If we can do a Black show for them, then they can just be themselves on stage,'" Dr. Anderson said.
Better representation often begins with more visibility, and that is growing, thanks in part to Christian, who's bringing opera online to his 800,000 followers on TikTok and another 50,000 on Instagram. You can follow him on both platforms at @christiansheltonsings.
"Most of them are really just organic videos of me and my voice lessons or performances, where we're working on certain things and I'm trying to become a better singer, and I think that inspires even younger singers than me," Christian said.
He said he initially was nervous to share videos of him singing opera in particular, because it's such a sacred and highly-respected art form.
"You feel afraid to share your voice with people because you know of the great singers of the past and you want to do it the best you can, but in that, you're limiting the exposure of opera to everyone that can be," Christian said. "Because of me, I'm their intro to opera, which is a bigger honor than a lot of things, because it's an art form that means so much to me."
His videos are showing the world that opera is for everyone. It should reflect the world we live in today, and Black voices deserve to boom on every stage, just as they do in Dr. Anderson's office.
If you're interested in learning more about opera, check out Opera Las Vegas. Dr. Anderson is a board member there and he said they're under new leadership that is making it a priority to appeal to wider audiences with more diverse casts and varied subject matter. In January, they did a show paying homage to Black opera legends, and just this month, they did a show celebrating Latin and Hispanic heritage.
"Our season this year is displaying something that's never happened for Las Vegas," Dr. Anderson said.
"Opera Las Vegas was the first company to ever hire me, so it'll always be special to me and I was one of the inaugural young artists for Opera Las Vegas Young Artists Program last season," Christian said.
