The year is 1912, and young Beatrice Morrow is a multi-talented scholar and opera singer, who has always longed to perform. Then she meets and falls in love with Edward Cannady, a community leader and young man who urges Beatrice to take on a new role with The Advocate—the first African American newspaper in Oregon. Beatrice shares her expertise and her voice as a civil rights leader, community organizer, and editor—as she builds bridges and blazes trails in our Portland, Oregon history.
Commissioned for our Portland Opera to Go Program (POGO), Beatrice is a 50-minute youth opera inspired by the life and story of Beatrice Morrow Cannady, a prominent leader in Oregon’s cultural community and civil rights movement of the early 1900s.
The piece has been written for middle school audiences, focused on fourth through ninth grades.
This September, POGO will present performances of Beatrice in venues around the region, including these two public performances at the Hampton Opera Center.