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Washington National Opera in association with San Francisco Classical Recording Company presents Blue, a contemporary opera explores race, loss, violence, and reconciliation in today's America, with a libretto by Tazewell Thompson set to music by Jeanine Tesori. Inspired by contemporary events and black literature, including Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Between the World and Me and James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time, Blue centers on the hopes and fears of a young black couple in Harlem as they raise a son in 21st-century America. In this “powerful” (New York Times) story of love and loss, we see father (a police officer) and mother supported by a loving community of fellow law enforcement, churchgoers, and friends as they navigate the devastating reality of their son being killed by a fellow white police officer. Historically and musically, Blue compassionately tells a story that is at once painful and identifiable to so many of us. After a success world premiere at the Glimmerglass Festival, the Music Critics Association of America named Blue the “Best New Opera” of 2020, while the Financial Times praised it as “an exceptionally strong new opera about race in America”, and hailed Tesori’s music as “eclectic, but assuredly so, full of beauty and eloquence.” The piece is sung by an excellent cast of vocalists, including Kenneth Kellogg as The Father, Briana Hunter as The Mother, and Aaron Crouch as The Son, and Gordon Hawkins as The Reverend, while Washington National Opera Orchestra is led by rising star conductor Roderick Cox. Jeanine Tesori is one of the most important American composers of today, with a diverse catalog for musical theatre, opera, film, and television. Tazewell Thompson is an internationally acclaimed director, playwright, teacher, and actor. Washington National Opera is among the leading US opera houses, and has the mission to present stories that reflect the America of today.