From His Heart’s Deep Core

Artist Recital: Ellaina Lewis and Martin Bakari with Joe Williams, piano

Tuesday, April 4, 2023 at 7:30 PM

Tagney Jones Hall at the Opera Center

General Public: $45, Subscribers: $40

From His Heart’s Deep Core: The Music of Richard Thompson and Others Inspired by the Life and Writing of Paul Laurence Dunbar

Seattle Opera favorites Martin Bakari (A Thousand Splendid Suns) and Ellaina Lewis (Blue) team up with Tacoma pianist Joe Williams (last here with tenor Joshua Stewart in 2022) for a special night of opera, classical art song, and jazz. The program will feature music from Richard Thompson and other composers, including settings of Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poetry, which has resonated with and inspired artists for generations across many musical genres.

BRAVO! Members: make sure to check out the BRAVO! Events Page to find out more about your special promotional code and the BRAVO! Reception following the recital! All BRAVO! Members who attend the recital are invited to the post-recital BRAVO! Reception.

Add to Calendar 4/4/2023 7:30:00 PM 4/4/2023 9:00:00 PM America/Vancouver Artist Recital: Ellaina Lewis and Martin Bakari with Joe Williams, piano From His Heart’s Deep Core: The Music of Richard Thompson and Others Inspired by the Life and Writing of Paul Laurence Dunbar Tuesday, April 4, 2023 at 7:30 PM Tagney Jones Hall at the Opera Center Seattle Opera favorites Martin Bakari (The Marriage of Figaro) and Ellaina Lewis (Blue) team up with Tacoma pianist Joe Williams (last here with tenor Joshua Stewart in 2022) for a special night of opera, classical art song, and jazz. The program will feature music from from Richard Thompson and other composers, including settings of Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poetry, which has resonated with and inspired artists for generations across many musical genres. Tagney Jones Hall at the Opera Center

Watch: Ellaina Lewis & Gretchen Yanover—Lift Every Voice and Sing

Watch: Martin Bakari & Joe Williams—"Dream Variations"

Artists

Ellaina Lewis
Soprano (Washington, D.C.)
Originally from Washington, D.C., Ellaina Lewis, has performed with Seattle Opera since 2011. A regular chorister, she is currently in rehearsals for La traviata, which opens May 6. As a principal artist, Ms. Lewis was Girlfriend 2 in the 2021 production of Jeanine Tesori's Blue. She has also performed with Tacoma Opera, Puget Sound Opera, Harmonia Orchestra and Chorus, Everett Symphony, and many other regional companies. Ms. Lewis enjoys bringing new works to new listeners and delights in singing classics and contemporary compositions. She premiered Huntley Beyer's epic oratorio, World Out of Balance, with Harmonia Seattle and Chorus this season. To Ms. Lewis’s great pleasure, composer Richard Thompson revealed after the Spring 2022 presentation of his One Life, that she, in collaboration with pianist Joe Williams, had given the premier live performance of the piece. Upcoming performances are listed on her artist website: www.lainalousoprano.com.

Martin Bakari
Tenor (Yellow Springs, OH)
Praised by Opera News as a "golden tenor” and"vocally charismatic," Martin Bakari's recent engagements include Charlie Parker's Yardbird (Atlanta, Arizona, Pittsburgh, New Orleans, and Dayton Operas), Carmina Burana and A Nation of Others (Carnegie Hall), A Thousand Splendid Suns (Seattle Opera), The Cartography Project (Washington National Opera), Pirates of Penzance (Virginia Opera), Le nozze di Figaro (Seattle Opera and Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival), Madama Butterfly (Dallas Opera), The Barber of Seville (Intermountain Opera Bozeman), and a United Kingdom recital tour (Mirror Visions Ensemble). Internationally, he has also appeared at major venues in Munich, Hamburg, Dresden, Frankfurt, Cologne, Tel Aviv, and Bari. Upcoming engagements include Messiah (Carnegie Hall), Das Rheingold (Seattle Opera), Turandot (Opera Colorado), and three productions to be announced (Houston Grand Opera). A 2018 George London Competition award winner, his recording of Grigory Smirnov's Dowson Songs (Naxos) was featured by Opera News as a "Critic's Choice" album. www.martinbakari.com.

Joe Williams
Piano (Tacoma, WA)
Joe Williams is a scholar, independent curator and sound liberator from Tacoma, WA. He recently presented research on a dozen piano works by Black composers born between 1981-1996 at the MTNA national conference in Reno, NV. He is a recipient of the 2022 Paul Chaorsh Independent Scholar Fellowship from the Society for American Music. He serves on the Tacoma Arts Commission and appears on ArtsWA's curator roster. He is artistic director for Byron Schenkman & Friends' upcoming online premiere of "A Contemporary Portrait: Brian Raphael Nabors." He was mentored by the late Frances Walker-Slocum, an alum of Washington D.C.'s Paul Laurence Dunbar High School — the first high school to serve African-Americans in the United States.