Harriet Tubman:
when I Crossed That Line to Freedom

AOP PRODUCTION AVAILABLE FOR TOURING

Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed That Line to Freedom is a two act theatrical work that tells of how a young girl born in slavery becomes Harriet Tubman, the legendary Underground Railroad conductor. Based on recent Tubman biographies, the story is narrated and told in the context of Tubman’s tight-knit family of lively characters. Harriet Tubman carries the universal themes of sisterhood, courage, sacrifice and doing what is necessary to keep a family together. Moreover it is a heartwarming tale of two sisters vowing that nothing but death will separate them, despite the slavery threatening to tear them apart.

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CREATORS

PRESS

“Nkeiru Okoye’s gripping 2014 opera “Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed That Line to Freedom” takes listeners on a journey through Black musical styles, including spirituals, jazz, blues and gospel... Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess” has its strengths, but unlike it, Okoye’s deeply researched opera offers singers ample opportunity to engage with our national past while being liberated from the burden of embodying distorted stereotypes.” – The New York Times

“Harriet Tubman is a deeply accomplished opera that uses the gritty-but-grand symphonic manner of Porgy and Bess as a jumping off point for something a bit more modern and able to accommodate more intensity and a bigger range of emotions. … [a] remarkable piece.”
—Arts Journal

“Okoye’s [Harriet Tubman] is an ensemble of achingly beautiful arias, duets, trios and choruses that recount the major episodes in Tubman’s career...”
—The Baltimore Sun

“The styles vary throughout the opera … from the Negro spirituals to the blues. The opera also contains elements of gospel, jazz and ragtime, and the perfect blend of all these styles makes Harriet Tubman a one-of-a-kind opera.”
—The Oberlin Review

“Okoye also shows a special affinity for gospel music, with its free and soaring melismas and its connotations of a robust and undaunted faith. Her use of gospel motifs gives Tubman’s great speeches a fittingly indelible intensity, “
—Cleveland Classical

“Those who want to know more about Harriet Tubman can turn to a magnificent new opera that illuminates her career and artfully sketches a compelling picture of her life. “Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed That Line to Freedom” by composer Nkeiru Okoye is an example of American opera at its very best.”
—Hyde Park Herald

Information

Duration 120' / Two Acts with intermission

Commission Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed That Line to Freedom was commissioned and developed by AOP in part with funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Art Works. www.arts.gov.

Premiere February 21, 2014; Irondale Center, Brooklyn, NY; AOP; Leslie B. Dunner, conductor; Lemuel Wade, stage director

Roles (14+) HARRIET TUBMAN (Araminta Ross), protagonist – soprano ; RACHEL ROSS, her younger sister – soubrette ; BEN ROSS, her father – tenor ; RITTIA ROSS, her mother – contralto ; JOHN TUBMAN, her suitor – baritone ; SAM GREEN, Preacher and abolitionist / WILLIAM STILL, Abolitionist –tenor/baritone ; CAROLINE, An older woman on the plantation – contralto ; KEZZIAH, A woman on the plantation – soprano ; ROBERT ROSS, Harriet’s brother / MALE RUNAWAY – baritone ; EDWARD BRODESS, Plantation owner / OVERSEER PITTS – tenor ; SATB Chorus of Slaves, free Negroes, slave owners, farmers, townspeople, children, and abolitionists. Note about Casting: This production takes place in the years leading up to the American Civil War. As a matter of historical accuracy, casting is race specific. Blind casting is not permitted.

Instrumentation (6) Violin x2, Viola, Violoncello, Contrabass, Piano

Publisher Staged performances of this work require licensing through the composer.

Additional website: www.nkeiruokoye.com/harriet-tubman

*Full libretto available upon request