Composer, band leader, and jazz trumpet virtuoso Terence Blanchard brought a concert version of his opera Fire Shut Up in My Bones to The Conrad Sunday. In this opera the traumatic childhood of the well-known New York Times journalist Charles M. Blow is chronicled from his 2014 autobiography, which sports the same provocative title as the opera.
With a libretto by Kasi Lemmons, Blanchard turned the book into an opera that premiered in 2019 at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, an American company known for its bold productions of contemporary opera. In 2021 and 2024 New York’s Metropolitan Opera staged Blanchard’s opera, and Lyric Opera of Chicago has also staged this opera..
Although the opera’s cast consists of half a dozen characters, on Sunday two vocalists, soprano Adrienne Danrich and baritone Justin Austin, sang eight songs from the opera, accompanied by the Turtle Island Quartet and the five instrumentalists of Terence Blanchard’s E-Collective, who also performed several solo instrumental portions of the opera.
Opera regulars familiar with contemporary vocal style in the operas of John Adams and Jake Heggie will easily recognize Blanchard’s fluent vocal style, although his lines tend to deliver a more trenchant emotional punch than either of those composers. Blanchard’s own musical identity is more evident in his jazz-influenced instrumental lines, especially his own trumpet descants.
In songs such as “Tears of Anger and Shame” Austin’s vivid declamation and his rich baritone timbre communicated the acute emotional plight of the young Charles Blow after suffering a sexual assault from an older family member. And in “Peculiar Grace,” the adult Blow reflects on the daunting challenge of a sensitive black male growing up in the South: “The South is no place for a boy with peculiar grace” is the haunting leitmotif Austin caressed with persuasive, dulcet inflection.
In “Don’t Be in Such a Rush,” Danrich’s shimmering soprano conveyed deep maternal consolation from Blow’s mother, and in “A Piece for Billie,” she soared with lustrous color and moving conviction expressing devotion and sacrifice for her son. But in later duet as Greta, Charles’ romantic partner, Danrich called on her soprano’s dramatic edge as the two young adults break up in the turbulent duet “In the Car.”
In addition to Blanchard’s trumpet descants, guitarists Charles Altura and David Ginyard provided defining thematic development, ably assisted by pianist Taylor Eigsti and Oscar Seaton on drums. When orchestral flourishes were needed, the Turtle Island Quartet summoned impressive instrumental breadth, but they also provided a deft sonic halo in more poignant moments.
For each song, Andrew F. Scott’s visuals displayed appropriate clips from staged productions of Fire Shut Up in My Bones on the large screen at the back of The Conrad’s stage, giving added context to the music. And most helpfully, Lemmons’ song texts were scrolled across the top of the screen. Although the singers’ diction was never less than superlative, it was a comfort to see the actual text as it was being sung.
The instrumentalists’ postlude was Blanchard’s rousing ballad titled “Chaos,” although there was nothing chaotic about the orderly succession of bravura solo flights from each of the players.
This concert was presented by the La Jolla Music Society on Sunday, January 19, 2025, at the Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center in downtown La Jolla.