In this LA Opera Connects podcast, I talk with journalist, speaker, and author Celeste Headlee about her grandfather, William Grant Still, a major musical force of the Harlem Renaissance and mid-century America, with 9 complete operatic works among his impressive creative output. Headlee and I discuss Still’s Highway 1, USA (staged by the LA Opera in Feb-March 2024), including its musical style, libretto, and the question of racial identity. Headlee also speaks about the importance of women in Still’s creative life, his life in LA with his wife Verna Arvey, and special memories of this beloved grandfather.
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