Who will sing the roles, design the productions and tell the stories in opera in the 21st century? Paige and Tazewell crack open a ‘behind the scenes’ view of the opera business to explore who decides what we see and hear on stage. They describe the experience of being artists of color writing, composing, directing and performing on Glimmerglass stages.****

Featuring:

• **Francesca Zambello, General & Artistic Director of The Glimmerglass Festival

• **Christopher Powell, Director of Artistic Initiatives of The Glimmerglass Festival

• Naomi Andre, Associate Professor in Women’s Studies, Afroamerican and African Studies and the Residential College at University of Michigan

• **Helena Brown, soprano opera singer

Find Us Online:

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

• Twitter: @GOpera

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

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

• Francesca Zambello: http://www.francescazambello.com/

• Naomi Andre: https://irwg.umich.edu/people/naomi-andre

• Helena Brown: https://www.helena-brown.com/

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. Stacy Gerard is our production and distribution manager. Marketing and promotional support is provided by Multitude Productions. Christopher Powell and Heather McDougall are the executive producers. Our thanks to Francesca Zambello, Artistic & General Director and Joel Morain, Resident Sound Designer of the Glimmerglass Festival.  Additional thanks to Tony Macaluso, former director of the WFMT Radio Network.

Breaking Glass and the development of Stomping Grounds are funded by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. 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.