Title Information
All information is derived from OPERA America's Season Schedule of Performances and titles databases which date back to 1991. OPERA America is constantly updating this data. If you feel that a work or an artist has been omitted or that information is incorrect, please use the linked forms below.
Title Information Form
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Approximate Runtime (hh:mm)
02:00
Number of Acts
3
Musical Style
Joplin didn't refer to Treemonisha as a ragtime opera. He set out to emulate the serious music he had heard at the Metropolitan Opera and by various touring European companies. He considered the work a grand opera, with an overture, instrumental prel
Vocal & Musical Forces
The Houston Grand Opera production included 12 principals, 20 dancers, and a chorus of 26. Schuller uses the forces that would have been available to Joplin: winds, reduced strings, piano, and percussion, including bongo drums.
Original Cast
Alpha Floyd; Louise Parker; Seth McCoy; Simon Estes; others (Atlanta production, 1972); Treemonisha, Carmen Balthrop; Monisha, Betty Allen; Remus, Curtis Rayam; Ned, Willard White; Parson Alltalk, Ed Pierson; with Ben Harney, Cora Johnson, Kenneth Hicks, Dorceal Duckens, Dwight Ransom, Raymond Bazemore, and the Louis Johnson Dance Theater (Houston production, as toured in NYC).