Crane School of Music Presents Opera Premiere of ‘Mota’ by William Grant Still

SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music Premieres ‘Mota,’ an Opera by Pioneering Black Composer William Grant Still 

SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music is proud to present the world premiere workshop of “Mota,” an opera by William Grant Still (1939-1978), one of the first leading Black composers and conductors in the United States.   

A group of faculty, alumni and students will present a workshop version of the opera on Friday, April 1 at 7:30 p.m. in the Sara M. Snell Music Theater. The event will also stream live online at the concert time, at potsdam.edu/cranelive. 

Set in pre-colonial southern Africa, “Mota” follows the love story and tragedy between the title character and his love, Monase. The opera is in three acts, with a libretto by Verna Arvey (1910-1987), Still’s wife and longtime collaborator. “Mota” takes place in Zululand, and the ensemble sings mostly in Zulu. In the life of the village, the proposed marriage of Monase, the daughter of Kayi, is postponed due to strife with a neighboring tribe. After he is repeatedly insulted by Mota, Kayi plots with Makibi to get his revenge, by accusing Mota of murder. Mota is sentenced to death, but at the crucial moment, Monase rushes to him and is killed at his side. The tragic love story concludes with Kayi’s lament that vengeance is a “terrible thing.” 

Dr. William L. Lake Jr. will conduct and narrate the performance, accompanied by Joshua W. Barkley ’21, piano. 

The cast includes: 

• Shavon Lloyd ’19 (Kayi) 

• Joy Jones ’12 (Monase) 

• Naomi Steele ’22 (Sidade) 

• Christopher Sierra, Visiting Assistant Professor of Voice (Mota) 

• Ben Johnson ’22 (Makibi) 

Eighteen vocal students comprise the Mota Ensemble, while seven members of the SUNY Potsdam Dance Ensemble will also perform original choreography by faculty member Cynthia DuFault as part of the premiere. 

The performance will be preceded by a short virtual musicology lecture from Dr. Lucy Caplan, an interdisciplinary historian of music and culture in the United States, with particular interests in African American music, opera, cultural criticism and the relationship between music and intellectual history. 

“Mota” is performed with permission from the William Grant Still Estate, with particular thanks to the composer’s daughter, Judith Still. 

About the composer: 

William Grant Still's career was comprised of many “firsts.” He was the first African American composer to have a symphony performed by a professional orchestra in the U.S., the Symphony No. 1 "Afro-American" (1930). It was premiered by Howard Hanson and the Rochester Philharmonic. The piece's New York premiere was given by the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall in 1935. He also became the first African American to conduct a major symphony orchestra in the United States when he led the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1936. In the world of opera, his “Troubled Island” was the first by an African American to be performed by a major opera company (New York City Opera, 1949), and that same opera was the first by an African American to be nationally televised. Still wrote more than 150 compositions, including operas, ballets, symphonies, chamber works, and arrangements of folk themes, especially Negro spirituals, plus instrumental, choral and solo vocal works. 

The premiere is free, and the public is invited to attend. The performance will be broadcast live on the Crane School of Music YouTube channel at the concert time. To view the program and see other upcoming streaming performances, visit www.potsdam.edu/cranelive. 

“Mota” is supported by the LoKo Arts Festival, made possible by the generosity and artistic vision of Kathryn (Kofoed) ’54 and Donald Lougheed (Hon. ’54). A mini symposium on Black opera will be held during this year’s LoKo Festival, featuring an encore screening of “Mota,” on May 1. For the full schedule of events, visit www.potsdam.edu/loko. 

About The Crane School of Music: 

Founded in 1886, SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music has a long legacy of excellence in music education and performance. Life at Crane includes an incredible array of more than 300 recitals, lectures and concerts presented by faculty, students and guests each year. The Crane School of Music is the State University of New York’s only All-Steinway institution and was one of the first Yamaha Institutions of Excellence. For more information, please visit www.potsdam.edu/crane.