Once upon a time in America, the opera, like most things, wasn’t for everyone. But in the 21st century, some new shows are pushing the form forward to resonate more widely and deeply. Can opera rise out of its origins and touch communities of color with complex histories and relationships to those not of color?

Host Paige Hernandez and contributor Tazewell Thompson tell their stories of encountering opera for the first time and their reflections on being recent first-time librettists.

Find Us Online:

• Website: https://glimmerglass.org/breaking-glass/

• Twitter: @GOpera

• Paige Hernandez: @PaigeInFull, http://paigehernandez.com/

• Tazewell Thompson: http://tazewellthompson.com/

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About Us:

Breaking Glass is produced by Stacia Brown and edited by Ali Post of Rise of Charm City LLC. Music and sound design by Elisheba Ittoop. Heather McDougall is our project manager and Stacy Gerard, our production and distribution manager. Marketing and promotional support is provided by Multitude Productions. Christopher Powell and Tony Macaluso are the executive producers. Thanks to Francesca Zambello, Artistic & General Director and Joel Morain, Resident Sound Designer of the Glimmerglass Festival.

Breaking Glass and the development of Stomping Grounds and Blue are funded by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Glimmerglass's commissioning fees for Blue are funded in part by an OPERA America Female Composers Grant. Further development of Blue is made possible by a Repertoire Development Grant from the Opera Fund. The Breaking Glass podcast is a co-production of The Glimmerglass Festival and the WFMT Radio Network, a Chicago-based producer and distributor of radio programs and podcasts about the arts. The podcast is made possible by an OPERA America Innovation Grant supported by the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.

Breaking Glass is a five-episode podcast that explores social justice through the lens of opera. Produced by The Glimmerglass Festival and WFMT, this show challenges ideas of who opera is for and who should create it. Host Paige Hernandez and contributor Tazewell Thompson discuss, question, and challenge what stories are told in the world of opera and how they may look in the future. They engage creatives from across the opera community and draw from their own experiences as artists of color in a conversation steeped in creativity, humanity, honesty. Let’s raise our voices and break some glass.