ABOUT THE SHOW

Rewind to September 2021 when the Metropolitan Opera (NYC) had been shuttered for over a year, the storied institution opened its season with the first work in its 138 year history written by an African American composer— Terence Blanchard’s new masterpiece, Fire Shut Up In My Bones. The production, remounted from the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis premiere in 2019, was experienced by 30,000 people, not to mention hundreds of thousands more around the world who watched The MET: LIVE in HD rebroadcasts. Notably, The Met restaged “Fire” again in the 2023-2024 season as a testament to its unparalleled success and achievement. 

Blanchard is already a celebrated artist with seven Grammy® Awards, two Oscar® nominations, numerous acclaimed film scores and albums, and his recent appointment as Executive Artistic Director for SFJazz, but with this work, he created a new cultural paradigm, breaking barriers along the way. Based on the 2014 memoir of the same name by The New York Times columnist, Charles M. Blow, the story is an excavation of a painful past and the desire to move beyond it. 

This “concert excerpt” version, adapted for Terence Blanchard and his band, the E-Collective, features the intrepid Turtle Island String Quartet and guest soloists, plus visuals by Andrew F. Scott. This work reveals the depths of Blanchard’s capacity to create a new musical world filled with pathos, humanity, and resilience.

Performed by Terence Blanchard and The E-Collective
Featuring Turtle Island Quartet and vocalists Adrienne Danrich and Norman Garrett
Libretto by Kasi Lemmons
Based on the book by Charles M. Blow
Visuals by Andrew F. Scott

Purdue University Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging honors the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 2025 through programs and events that challenge, inspire, and empower the Purdue community and beyond. For more details and additional events around Dr. King’s birthday, visit lifeat.purdue.edu/mlk