_We Shall Not Be Moved_(2017) and Opera Philadelphia

We Shall Not Be Moved was composed by Daniel Bernard Roumain with a libretto by Marc Bamuthi Joseph, and directed by Bill T. Jones. The opera brings in musical signifiers from several genres while pointedly critiquing issues such as police brutality, the rights of transgender individuals, and structural racism within the US public education system. While the opera has not been taken on by another company since its premiere in 2017, it is an overlooked example of the possibilities illuminated by the frameworks and orientations of Black Opera as defined by Naomi André, and, I would argue, contemporary US opera more broadly. 

The opera grew out of an Opera Philadelphia collaboration with a non-profit called Arts Sanctuary called "Hip H'Opera," initially launched in 2007. In the Hip H'Opera program, students "[learned] the history and aesthetics of hip-hop and opera . . . and then "[used] poetry, fiction, and non-fiction [to capture] their own urban stories." The second phase of the program used the students' writings as inspiration for the libretto of We Shall Not Be Moved. 

Pictured: Production still, We Shall Not Be Moved. 

The opera centers on the experience of four teenagers, who refer to themselves as "the Family," dealing with the consequences of Philadelphia's 2014 public-school crisis, in which twenty-three schools shut down. After a violent altercation occurs when one of the family members is threatened with sexual assault and another prevents it, the family flees to the Osage Avenue site of the 1985 MOVE bombing. It is here that the second key event drawn from Philadelphia's history comes to bear upon the opera, that of the bombing, in which eleven members of the MOVE Black liberation group, including five children, were killed by a police helicopter that dropped explosives on the house to end a confrontation between the activists and police. The Family hides (unknowingly) in the site of the bombing, where, in taking refuge, they discover the house that remains is haunted by the ghosts (the OGs) that remain. The Family is pursued by a well-meaning policewoman from the neighborhood, and as a consequence of the encounter, the Family must contemplate greater violence to stay undetected. The opera ends ambiguously, with Officer Ramirez being interviewed by a local news reporter after being released by the Family, as the latter's fate remains unanswered. [Full synopsis here.] 

We Shall Not Be Moved integrates operatic conventions such as arias sung with traditional vibrato with new signifiers like spoken-word poetry and breakdancing. In the aria "Love is the only word sweeter than Black," for example, countertenor John Holiday fuses moments of Baroque ornamentation with belted, straight-tone riffs drawn from the genre of R&B and even sometimes indie-pop. The aria begins with a simple, plaintive introduction consisting of repeated chords on the piano and long lines in teh cello, as two of the family members share platitudes about love. The countertenor of John Blue (sung by Holiday) enters above the low voices of John Mack and John Little, and intertwines with a piercing obbligato played by solo violin. Holiday's voice and the violin are somehow both cool and warm in their juxtaposition to the low timbres previously heard: "Say 'Black' and hear 'yes'/say 'Black' and hear 'enough.'/Say 'love' is the only word sweeter than 'Black.'" Holiday's interpretation is raw with emotion and yet refined musically as he riffs on this final statement, repeating it again and again like an invocation. 

Pictured: The Family

We Shall Not Be Moved has not been performed since 2017, but Opera Philadelphia re-screened the original production in 2018 and 2020. 

-Megan Steigerwald Ille