She Was There | Boston Lyric Opera (original) (raw)

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She Was ThereBrock Poirier2026-06-05T10:25:26-04:00

She Was There

June 13, 2026, 4:00 – 6:00 PM | Film Screening & Panel Discussion
The West End Museum

June 14, 2026, 3:00 PM | Concert & Reception
Museum of African American History

Presented in partnership by Boston Lyric Opera and Castle of Our Skins.

Inspired by the profound words of the spiritual “Were You There?” this two-day event brings together film, music, and dialogue to illuminate the often-overlooked stories of Black revolutionary women throughout history.

Day One: Screening & Conversation
Free with RSVP • Capacity limited to 75
Curated by the Roxbury International Film Festival, this program connects two extraordinary women across centuries:
Following the screening, journalist Tina Martin McDuffie moderates a conversation with:
Guests are invited to explore the West End Museum’s permanent exhibition Rise, Fall, Rebirth: Stories of the West End, including interactive biographies of Black women abolitionists and a neighborhood Black History scavenger hunt.
Day Two: Concert & Reception
Free with RSVP • Capacity limited to 175
Experience a powerful musical tribute bringing together artists from Boston Lyric Opera and Castle of Our Skins. Through opera, spirituals, new works, and spoken testimony, this concert uplifts the lives of Black women whose leadership shaped American history—honoring both well-documented figures and those nearly lost to time.
Guests are invited to a guided tour of Black Voices of the Revolution at 1:30 PM and pre-concert reception at 2:00 PM in the Susan Paul Room prior to the start of the concert at 3:00 PM
The entrance into the African Meeting House is behind the main museum. Please be on the lookout for BLO/She Was There signage on site.
Why She Was There ?
As Boston and the nation commemorate the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, She Was There asks:
Whose stories have we remembered? Whose have we overlooked? And how do we honor the women whose presence changed history?
This two-day program stands alongside BLO’s production of Daughter of the Regiment as a companion exploration of power, gender, and national identity—challenging audiences to reimagine who we see at the center of America’s story.

This program is presented in partnership by Boston Lyric Opera, Castle of our Skins, Everyone250, MA250, Museum of African American History, Roxbury International Film Festival, and West End Museum.

She Was There received funding from a civic practice grant from OPERA America’s Opera Fund.

Kearstin Piper Brown

Soprano

Kearstin Piper Brown | Soprano

Kearstin Piper Brown | Soprano in BLO's 2026 production of She Was ThereAward-winning American soprano Kearstin Piper Brown graces leading opera and concert stages worldwide with her distinctive artistry and radiant presence. This season, she returned to The Metropolitan Opera covering Bess in Porgy and Bess and made her Utah Opera debut as Wendy Torrance in The Shining. Engagements also include Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity, Handel’s Messiah at the Abyssinian Baptist Church, performances of Porgy and Bess with Dayton Opera and Gulfshore Opera, a debut with the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra, and Poppea in The Comet/Poppea. Recent highlights include Alice Ford in Falstaff, Mimì in La bohème, and Poppea at Lincoln Center with the American Modern Opera Company. She received the 2022 World Theatre Award and multiple nominations for Intimate Apparel, later broadcast on PBS Great Performances. Ms. Brown has appeared at Carnegie Hall and with major orchestras across the United States and Europe, and is recognized for her work in both contemporary opera and standard repertoire.

Eliko Akahori

Pianist

Eliko Akahori | Pianist

Eliko Akahori | Pianist in BLO's 2026 production of She Was ThereEliko Akahori has performed in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Recent projects include a recording with Midori and A Far Cry, a world premiere of Reinaldo Moya’s It was turning in a circle for two pianos, and a recital with flautist Karl-Heinz Schütz. Past collaborators in recitals, chamber music concerts, and recordings include members of the Berlin Philharmonic and the Chicago, Montreal, Boston, and San Francisco Symphony Orchestras. In the Boston area, Ms. Akahori has appeared in concerts with A Far Cry, Winsor Music, Monadnock Music, and has performed regularly with Cantata Singers and Community MusicWorks. She received first prize in the Coleman Chamber Ensemble Competition and has performed in many festivals, including the Banff Centre in Canada, IMAI in Maine, and the Pacific Music Festival in Japan. Ms. Akahori is currently a performance faculty member and director of the music performance program at Wellesley College. She holds a DMA in collaborative piano and a master’s degree in music theory, both from the New England Conservatory of Music; and a bachelor’s degree in composition from the Kunitachi College of Music. Upon graduating, she was invited to perform for the Japanese Emperor’s family at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.

Lenelle Moïse

Writer & Speaker

Lenelle Moïse | Writer & Speaker

Lenelle Moïse | Writer & Speaker in BLO's 2026 production of She Was ThereLenelle Moïse is a poet, playwright, and songwriter. She wrote the romantic comedy K-I-S-S-I-N-G, winner of the 2023 Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding New Script, a national finalist for the 2024 Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award, and an international finalist for the 2024 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. The full playscript of K-I-S-S-I-N-G is published in the Spring 2025 issue of American Theatre magazine. Moïse also wrote, composed, and co-starred in the critically acclaimed Off-Broadway play Expatriate. Her full-length script Merit won The Ruby Prize. An accomplished solo performer, she has been a guest artist at dozens of colleges and venues including the United Nations, Poets House, Lincoln Center, the Norton Museum of Art, and the International Museum of Women. Her book of poems, Haiti Glass (City Lights Books), won the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Literary Award. She is currently working on WRIT RITM, a song cycle commissioned by the Huntington Theatre. Visit lenellemoise.com for more info.

Matthew Vera

Violin

Matthew Vera | Violin

Matthew Vera | Violin in BLO's 2026 production of She Was ThereMexican-American violinist Matthew Vera is known for his versatility as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral leader. He has played with the Boston Philharmonic’s first violin section since 2010 and is occasionally a guest concertmaster. He began his tenure as concertmaster of the El Paso Symphony Orchestra in 2024. Vera performs with Boston Ballet, the Portland Symphony, the Rhode Island Philharmonic, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, among others. He has spent the last two summers as concertmaster of the American Repertory Theatre’s productions of Evita and Gatsby. In chamber music, Vera is a violinist with Castle of Our Skins, Aurea Ensemble, Radius Ensemble, Juventas New Music Ensemble, and Monadnock Music. He has attended numerous festivals, including Tanglewood, the Heifetz Institute, Brevard, and Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival. Vera’s early musical training was fostered through the Tucson Unified Public Schools and Tucson Junior Strings, a unique conductorless orchestra training program for young people. He is a graduate of the New England Conservatory, where he studied with James Buswell, Lucy Chapman, and Donald Weilerstein. His mentors have included the Borromeo String Quartet, Roger Tapping, Martha Katz, and John Heiss.

Paola Caballero

Violin

Paola Caballero | Violin

Paola Caballero | Violin in BLO's 2026 production of She Was TherePaola Caballero spent over a decade in Barcelona as a member of the Cadaqués Orchestra and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Barcelona y Nacional de Catalunya. With both ensembles, she toured throughout Europe and made numerous recordings. She has performed with artists like Joshua Bell, Hilary Hahn, Ray Chen, Lang Lang, Plácido Domingo, Michael Bublé, Chaka Khan, Madeleine Peyroux, Joni Mitchell, and Andrew Bocelli. She performs and records with ensembles like BMOP, Odyssey Opera, Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, Back Bay Chorale, Boston Ballet, and recently joined the Chamber Orchestra of the United Nations with its debut performance at Carnegie Hall. Ms. Caballero is Executive Director of the Lexington Chamber Music Center, Artistic Director of Point CounterPoint Chamber Music Festival, and Music Director of Symphonia at Phillips Exeter Academy. She also teaches at the NEC Preparatory School, Project STEP, and Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra. She holds a postgraduate diploma from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and master’s and bachelor’s degrees from the New England Conservatory. She has studied with David Takeno, Masuko Ushioda, Eric Rosenblith, Lucy Chapman, and worked with Lorand Fenyves and Erika Raum at the Royal Conservatory, the institution that sponsored her use of a 1686 Nicolò Amati instrument.

Ashleigh Gordon

Viola

Ashleigh Gordon | Viola

Ashleigh Gordon | Viola in BLO's 2026 production of She Was ThereAshleigh Gordon has recorded with Ensemble Proton and Ensemble Modern, performed with BMOP and A Far Cry, and appeared at the BBC Proms with the Chineke! Orchestra and at Carnegie Hall with Gateways Music Festival. She has performed internationally in venues like Royal Albert Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, Oper Frankfurt, Dampfzentrale Bern, Centre Pompidou, and Lee Hysan Concert Hall. Gordon is cofounder, artistic director, and violist of Castle of Our Skins, a Boston-based concert and educational series devoted to celebrating Black artistry through music. She was awarded the 2016 Charles Walton Diversity Advocate Award from AFM and is a 2019 Brother Thomas Fellow. In 2020, she was nominated for the Americans for the Arts Johnson Fellowship for Artists Transforming Communities and named one of WBUR’s “ARTery 25.” She has presented lectures on citizen artistry and entrepreneurship, workshops for fellow educators, guest lectures, and frequently appears as a panelist discussing diversity in classical music. She is on the Board of Directors for Project STEP and serves on the Steering Committee for the Boston Cultural Leaders Coalition. Gordon is a graduate of New England Conservatory, Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt, and Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Music. For more information, visit www.violashe.com and www.castleskins.org.

Jing Li

Cello

Jing Li | Cello

Jing Li | Cello in BLO's 2026 production of She Was ThereCellist Jing Li has performed internationally as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. She has made solo appearances with the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, Acadiana Symphony of Louisiana, Indiana University Orchestra, Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra, and Cuenca Symphony Orchestra in Ecuador. Past collaborators include Miriam Fried, Donald Weilerstein, Lawrence Wolfe, and the Borromeo String Quartet. She has participated in festivals like the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Sarasota Music Festival, Banff Centre for the Arts, and the Piatigorsky Seminar for Cellists. Born in Beijing, Ms. Li immigrated to the U.S. at age three and received her first cello lessons from her father, Tien Sheng Li. She holds an M.M. with Academic Honors and Distinction in Performance from New England Conservatory, and a B.M. from Rice University. She is a top prizewinner in the Corpus Christi International String Competition and the Irving M. Klein International String Competition. Ms. Li performs with A Far Cry Chamber Orchestra, Boston Ballet, Boston Lyric Opera, and BMOP. She was a former member of the Portland Piano Trio and taught students through 240 Strings, an organization focused on musical education for students from diverse backgrounds. She is currently a faculty member of New England Conservatory’s Expanded Education program.

The West End Museum

150 Staniford Street, Suite 7 | Boston, MA 02114

Emerson Colonial Theatre

Museum of African American History

46 Joy Street | Boston, MA 02114

Emerson Colonial Theatre

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