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WQED Season Recap - The Passion Of Mary Cardwell Dawson
Saturday, October 5, 2024
1:00 PM
WQED-FM 89.3 and wqed.org/fm
Pittsburgh Opera, in collaboration with Classical WQED-FM 89.3, will broadcast the 2023– 24 season productions, giving listeners an opportunity to enjoy the operas all over again.
In 1943, the National Negro Opera Company is set to perform on a floating barge to evade racially-segregated venues. But when bad weather threatens—pushing the performance to a segregated performance hall—visionary impressaria Mary Cardwell Dawson must find a way forward.
Mary Cardwell Dawson’s dream to provide access for African Americans to perform on stages for all audiences changed the future of opera. Having founded the longest-running, all-Black opera company here in Pittsburgh and organizing opera guilds in the country’s biggest cities, Mary Cardwell Dawson would go on to train hundreds of African American youth to sing.
The broadcasts are at 1:00 PM, unless otherwise noted, on consecutive Saturdays from August 31st through October 5th.
