New York Times spotlights East Coast premiere of 'Blind Injustice'
The opera was first workshopped in Opera Fusion:New Works, a partnership with Cincinnati Opera & CCM
Story by CCM Graduate Assistant Lucy Evans
The New York Times recently featured the East Coast premiere of "Blind Injustice," an opera based on true exonerations achieved by the Ohio Innocence Project. The production opened on Feb. 16 , 2024, at Peak Performances at Montclair State University. Premiered in 2019 at Cincinnati Opera, the opera was first workshopped through Opera Fusion: New Works (OF:NW), a collaboration between Cincinnati Opera and the UC College-Conservatory of Music.
The creators of “Blind Injustice,” from left: Scott Davenport Richards, Robin Guarino and David Cote. Photo/Jeenah Moon for The New York Times.
The opera follows the true stories of six people who were wrongfully imprisoned for crimes they did not commit, and later exonerated through the advocacy of the Ohio Innocence Project at Cincinnati Law (OIP). The libretto is loosely based on the book Blind Injustice by Mark A. Godsey, University of Cincinnati Professor of Law and co-founder of OIP, as well as interviews with the six exonerees: Rickey Jackson, Nancy Smith, Clarence Elkins and the East Cleveland Three — Derrick Wheatt, Laurese Glover and Eugene Johnson.
Created by David Cote in collaboration with CCM Professor of Opera Robin Guarino, much of the opera is in the former prisoners’ own words as they each recall the harrowing details of their experiences. Guarino, who is directing the production at Peak Performances, spoke to the New York Times about the creative team’s mission. “We had these people who had so much taken away from them,” she says. “We were just trying to give back by telling their stories.”
"Blind Injustice" at Cincinnati Opera. Photo/Philip Groshong
The opera’s score, by composer Scott Davenport Richards, uses jazz, funk and hip-hop elements to convey the urgency of the subjects’ stories. “We have people sitting in prison in horrible conditions who have done nothing and don’t deserve it,” he says. “We should be jumping up and down and yelling as loud as we can. And we have some singers who are jumping up and singing as loud as they can.”
Cincinnati Opera commissioned the opera to highlight the advocacy of the Ohio Innocence Project, which has helped exonerate and free 42 people since 2003.
Prior to its premiere, Blind Injustice received its initial workshop through Opera Fusion: New Works (OF:NW), a partnership between Cincinnati Opera and CCM that supports the development of new operas. Opera Fusion: New Works is made possible through funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The only such collaboration between a major opera company and a major music conservatory, OF:NW gives CCM Opera and Voice students the chance to hone their skills while contributing to the future of the genre.
Since its inception in 2011, OF:NW has hosted 23 workshops — with the 24th project slated for this spring. The program offers composers and librettists a 10-day residency during which they can hear their creations come to life and make adjustments in real time with singers from Cincinnati Opera and CCM.
In addition to Blind Injustice, many workshop pieces have gone on to critically acclaimed premieres and have received revivals. Recent examples include The Hours, which premiered in 2022 at the Metropolitan Opera, Fellow Travelers, which premiered at Cincinnati Opera in 2016 and has since been performed by numerous companies, including a 2023 production at CCM, and The Righteous, which will premiere at the Santa Fe Opera this summer.
In addition to the CCM connection through OF:NW, the new production of Blind Injustice also features current and former CCM Voice and Opera students. Current students Logan Wagner and Eric Shane Heatley, along with alumni Miles Wilson-Toliver, Adrienne Danrich (MM Voice, 1995), Joseph Lattanzi (MM Voice and AD Opera-Vocal Performance, '15 ), Reilly Nelson (MM Voice, '14; DMA Voice, '18) and Victoria Okafor (MM Voice, '19; AD Opera-Vocal Performance, '21) all are featured in the east coast premiere.
The New York Times preview of the show was published Feb. 15 and is featured on the front of their Weekend Arts section in the Feb. 16 print edition.
About CCM Opera/Voice
Declared a top college vocal program by Backstage Magazine and described as “one of the continent’s major music schools,” by the Toronto Star, CCM’s Departments of Opera and Voice provide one of the most comprehensive training programs for opera singers, coaches and directors in the United States. CCM offers an international faculty of dedicated educators who are also celebrated professionals in their own right, widely and currently active in their respective fields. Several national opera companies hold auditions at the conservatory, and CCM students frequently advance to the final rounds of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. CCM graduates have performed on the stages of the world’s greatest opera companies, including Cincinnati Opera, the Metropolitan Opera (New York), Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Royal Opera (London), La Scala (Italy) and more.
Lucy Evans
CCM Graduate Assistant, Marketing + Communications
Lucy Evans is an artist diploma student studying Opera-Vocal Performance at CCM. She is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, and was recently an Apprentice Artist with the Santa Fe Opera.
Featured image at the top: CCM alumna Adrienne Danrich, left, and Phillip Bullock, performing in the opera. Photo/Jeenah Moon for The New York Times.
Additional Contacts
Curt Whitacre | Director of Marketing/Communications | UC College-Conservatory of Music
whitaccp@ucmail.uc.edu | 513-556-2683
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