CSW Celebrates Black History Month with Opera unMet
This week, Opera unMet, a Boston community-based opera company run by former CSW music teacher Marshall Hughes, offered a moving performance at CSW's all-school assembly.
The group performed a mix of traditional spirituals, sacred works by Malotte and Faure, and some arrangements of contemporary popular music. There were dramatic readings, including the Atticus Finch closing argument from Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” and original poems by actor Cliff Blake and Langston Hughes. View photos from the performance.
Formed in Boston during the 1980s by Marshall Hughes and Ellen Polansky, the company has remained dedicated to creating unpretentious, user-friendly, and affordable music for people of all ages and backgrounds. Their mission has always been to make opera accessible, bringing performances to a wide range of venues from Symphony Hall Boston to the Hatch Shell. Many of their alumni have gone on to have major careers in opera companies worldwide, and they proudly call themselves "The Keepers of the Voices."
Featured Guests for the Assembly:
Director/Singer, Former CSW Music Chair
Marshall Hughes
Singers:
Isabel Randall, Mezzo Soprano
Sarah Cooper, Soprano
Alan Rias, Tenor
Actors:
Cliff Blake
Daniel Callahan
In recent years, Opera unMet has had a close relationship with the Universalist Unitarian Urban Ministry in Roxbury, where they've presented incredible programs like "Arias on the Steps" and "The Ties That Bind."
Thank you to Opera unMet for bringing their artistry to our Black History Month assembly.
Isabel Randall, Mezzo Soprano
Sarah Cooper, Soprano
Alan Rias, Tenor
Actors:
Cliff Blake
Daniel Callahan
In recent years, Opera unMet has had a close relationship with the Universalist Unitarian Urban Ministry in Roxbury, where they've presented incredible programs like "Arias on the Steps" and "The Ties That Bind."
Thank you to Opera unMet for bringing their artistry to our Black History Month assembly.
CSW—a gender-inclusive day and boarding school for grades 9-12—is a national leader in progressive education. We live out our values of inquiry-based learning, student agency, and embracing diverse perspectives in every aspect of our student experience. Young people come to CSW to learn how to learn and then put what they learn into action—essential skills they carry into their futures as doers, makers, innovators, leaders, and exceptional humans who do meaningful work in the world.