To close out the year I’m posting videos from the top 12 interviews from 2024. These were a mix of my personal favorites, some of your favorites and a few that may have slipped under the radar. Check back as I have a very special new interview that will run just after December 25th. We continue with #11: KANEZA SCHAAL.

At the time of my interview with Schaal, the LA Opera production of William Grant Still’s opera Highway 1 USA was going to open with The Dwarf by Alexandre von Zemlinsky. Schaal, who directed the Pulitzer Prize winning opera Omar, which was also performed at LA Opera, was interested in breathing new life into a one-act opera that many people did not know.

It should be noted that Omar was written by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels. While the success of that opera, and the success of Terence Blanchard‘s Fire Shut Up in My Bones, has opened a few more doors for operas by Black composers, so many works have become forgotten (as had Highway 1 USA) or ignored completely.

In this lively and fascinating conversation, Schaal talked about her approach to Still’s work, the world that the composers was dreaming about in this opera, the future for other works by Black composers and artists and the universal themes that run through this work.

I attended opening night and found Highway 1, USA to be just as Schaal describes it in this engaging interview. I had the privilege of talking about the opera with her after the performance. I hope more people get a chance to see Highway 1, USA and specifically get a chance to see this production.

This is the second in our series of interviews you might not have watched yet. The series opened with jazz bassist Linda May Han Oh. I hope you’ll take a look at that conversation as well.

You can find all of my interviews at our YouTube channel HERE.

Check back for the rest of my Top 12 of 2024 series of interviews.

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