Opera

[email protected]

The name Sissieretta

Joyner Jones may not be familiar to most people, but she was a talented

opera singer who performed in front of President Benjamin Harrison, toured

Europe and was hailed by George Bernard Shaw, writing in a review about

her "wonderful instrument with its grand range, its birdlike agility

and charm of execution."

Unfortunately,

because of her race, Jones was not allowed to take the American opera

stage and was relegated to Vaudeville.

Jones is a

focal point in "The Opera Singer," a three-act opera written

of the Morris Brown College Concert Choir. She wrote the music and the

libretto for the opera and is also its director.

The plot of

"The Opera Singer" is a light-humored opera dealing with the

anxieties and joys of a musical career. The first act opens with five

girls trying out for the lead role in "Sissieretta" and awaiting

call backs, while the second act focuses on one of the hopeful singers

at church, trying to decide which choir to sing with.

The third act

goes