Performed by the Houston Ebony Opera Guild. Performers: Jason Oby, tenor; Marion Vernette Moore, Soprano; Shana Mashego, Soprano; Leon Turner, Bass; and John Cornelius II, piano

American Portraits I too sing...the darker brother featuring Houston Ebony Opera Guild

Thursday, April 10 at 7:30 p.m. The Houston Ebony Opera Guild is an organization of classically trained African American singers based in Houston, Texas. Founded to provide opportunities for minority participation in and exposure to classical opera, Negro Spirituals, art songs, and other musical genres, the guild began performing in the 1980s. Since then their performances have electrified audiences nationally and as far away as the Bahamas Islands. Among the guild’s most successful programs is its annual African America Music Gala, which celebrates the music of African American composers and other composers whose works vividly reflect African and African American culture, history, and heritage. Acclaimed by audiences and critics alike for its productions, HEOG are regular performers in Miller Outdoor Theatre. Their production of “Don Giovanni” drew high critical praise and audience response. Other operas the guild has staged include “Othello,” “The Medium,” “Porgy and Bess,” and “Trouble in Tahiti.” The guild doesn’t limit itself only to opera. It has delighted audiences through the years with special recitals, concerts, collaborations, and cooperative efforts with other arts organizations. In “Porgy and Bess,” HEOG’s very first opera, all cast members of the production were local singers. Today, HEOG includes superb artists from Houston and around the United States and is nationally renown for its soloists and productions.