The Metropolitan Opera: Champion
Overview
Six-time Grammy Award–winning composer Terence Blanchard brings his first opera to the Met after his Fire Shut Up in My Bones triumphantly premiered with the company to universal acclaim in 2021. Bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green is the young boxer Emile Griffith, who rises from obscurity to become a world champion, and bass-baritone Eric Owens portrays Griffith’s older self, haunted by the ghosts of his past. Soprano Latonia Moore is Emelda Griffith, the boxer’s estranged mother, and mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe is the bar owner Kathy Hagan. Yannick Nézet-Séguin takes the podium for Blanchard’s second Met premiere, also reuniting the director-and-choreographer team of James Robinson and Camille A. Brown.
Cast
Eric Owens
Emile Griffith
Latonia Moore
Emelda Griffith
Eric Greene
Benny "Kid" Paret / Benny Paret, jr.
Paul Groves
Howie Albert
Lee Wilkof
Ring Announcer
Stephanie Blythe
Kathy Hagen
Edward Nelson
Man in Bar
Krysty Swann
Cousin Blanche
Ethan Joseph
Little Emile
Helena Brown
Lucia Paret
Tshombe Selby
Mano Alfano
Brittany Renee
Sadie Donastorg Griffith
