X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X

An opera in three acts (1986)

Premiere: September 1986, New York City Opera, Christopher Keene, conductor

Duration: 2 hours, 30 minutes

Cast

Lead Roles

MALCOLM X: Baritone

ELIJAH MUHAMMAD / STREET: High Tenor

LOUISE / BETTY: Soprano

Featured Roles

REGINALD: Bass-baritone

Supporting Roles

SOCIAL WORKER / REPORTER: Soprano

QUEEN MOTHER PREACHER: Mezzo-soprano

COP / REPORTER: Tenor

GARVEY PREACHER / ENSEMBLE: Bass

MALCOLM LITTLE (12-14 Year-old): Child Tenor (Michael Jackson voice)

Ensemble

16-24 SATB

Orchestra

2(II:pic,afl).1.2.1./2.1.1+btbn.0/timp.2perc/str; Improvisers’ ensemble: wwI(asx,ssx,fl), wwII(tsx,bcl,ssx), wwIII(cl,cacl[=barsx]), tpt, tbn, dmkit, pf, db(elec bass)

Synopsis

The opera traces the life of Malcolm X (1925-65) from his boyhood in Lansing, Michigan, through his early brushes with the law, his conversion to the teachings of Elijah of the Nation of Islam, his own ministry and his breach with Elijah, his pilgrimage to Mecca and his assassination.

Press

“Interwoven with Malcolm X’s own words, Thulani Davis’s revised libretto is as fierce as it is compassionate, matching composer Anthony Davis’s weaving of art and vernacular music into a profound whole.”

“X feels all-too-relevant today — in its summoning of a painful national past, in its attention to the structural racism built deeply into our society, and in its honoring of a single extraordinary life bent on challenging the status quo. Some of the lines of the libretto by the playwright Thulani Davis (Anthony’s cousin) after a story by Christopher Davis (his brother), could have been written yesterday.”

— Jeremy Eichler, Boston Globe

“X is a work that deserves to enter the American

— Andrew Porter, The New Yorker