OperaCréole will present a three-day La Fête Créole festival of opera, Black history and New Orleans roots music from Thursday, May 26, to Saturday, May 28, at the Marigny Opera House.

Founded in 2010 OperaCréole’s mission is to give voice and life to the music of classical and operatic composers of African descent, particularly those from New Orleans. The group continues to revive and premiere works by famous and lesser-known Black composers.

The Legacy of Congo Square
Thursday, May 26, 7 p.m.

Baba Luther Gray will share the sounds of African rhythms and traditions that emerged from Congo Square, the gathering place of both enslaved and free people of color in New Orleans beginning in the French colonial era of the early 18th century. Gray will join OperaCréole in performing Creole folk songs arranged by New Orleans native Camille Nickerson (1888–1982), a pianist, composer, arranger, collector, and Howard University professor from 1926 to 1962. As a music scholar, Nickerson researched folksongs and collected Creole songs, creating her own arrangements of songs which she performed on tours from the 1930s through the 1950s, billed as “The Louisiana Lady.” (General admission: $25 | Student: $10)

Françoise et Tortillard
Friday, May 27, 7 p.m.

Edmond Dédé is considered to be the first African American opera composer. Born in New Orleans as a free man in 1827, he became a conductor and composer who would work in Paris and Bordeaux, France. OperaCréole is determined to share Dédé’s work with 21st-century audiences, including the comedy sketch, Françoise et Tortillard, composed in 1866. Resident artists will open the evening with a selection of popularly known operatic arias. (General admission: $25 | Student: $10)

An intimate evening with Mary Elizabeth Williams
Saturday, March 28, 7 p.m.

Soprano opera singer Mary Elizabeth Williams, a native of Philadelphia, is a regular guest artist for such opera houses as the Seattle Opera and the Welsh National Opera. When she is not traveling to various cities worldwide on tour she resides in Milan, Italy with her husband, tenor Lorenzo Decaro. She has performed in New Orleans in the title role in Tosca and as Leonora in Il Trovatore.

For this intimate evening of conversation and singing, Williams will sing arias from operas that were performed in the years that New Orleanians attended the French Opera House (1859–1919), including Norma, Le Cid, La Juive, Tosca and Aida. (General admission: $50 | Students: $20)