Terence Blanchard

A phenomenally gifted artist, trumpeter, composer and arranger Terence Blanchard is a Grammy Award-winning jazz icon. He’s also an Oscar-nominated film composer (The Woman King, Malcolm X, Blackkklansman) whose music drives the story and pierces the heart. In 2021, he made history with his opera Fire Shut Up In My Bones, the first work by a Black composer ever to be staged by the Metropolitan Opera in its 138-year history. Hailed by NPR as “magnetically powerful" and by The New York Times as "a fresh, affecting work…poetic, poignant, sometimes grimly funny, always dramatically effective," Fire Shut Up In My Bones is based on journalist and author Charles M. Blow’s powerful memoir chronicling his childhood in rural Louisiana, and his journey to break free from the repressions of the traditions of family, church, and college. Crowning Blanchard’s extraordinarily moving music is NAACP Image Award-winning actress, director, and screenwriter Kasi Lemmons’ profoundly affecting libretto; her achievement also marked a first for the Metropolitan Opera—the first time the work of a Black librettist had ever been performed there. Philadelphia Orchestra Music and Artistic Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducted the history-making performances at the Met. Now, Terence Blanchard brings a new suite of music from this groundbreaking opera, performed by Terence Blanchard and his GRAMMY-nominated ensemble The E-Collective, the GRAMMY-winning Turtle Island Quartet and operatic vocalists Justin Austin and Adrienne Danrich.