A recording of Edmond Dédé’s long-lost opera “Morgiane”—the oldest extant by an African-American composer—is available for the first time, and it’s courtesy of OperaCréole, a nonprofit run by a Black Catholic mother-daughter duo from New Orleans.
The latest episode of the Black Catholic Messenger show delves into their story, discussing Dede’s 1887 work and its quarter-century odyssey from the Harvard University archives, to Xavier University of Louisiana, to its world premiere in 2025 at the Crescent City’s St. Louis Cathedral.
“When I saw the manuscript and I saw not only treble clef, bass clef, but I saw alto clef, C-clef, things that aren't typically used, I knew we are looking at something that… you know, this could take over your life,” said Aria M. Mason, who founded OperaCréole with her mother Givonna Joseph in 2011.
“The historian in me was just excited, you know, to see something in someone's handwriting and to try to unpack all the context and nuances around it. Just to translate the language, to figure out what the plot was, putting aside the musician, the musical aspect of it. I knew that what we had was going to be something spectacular. It just was a question of how do we get to the spectacle part of the spectacular.”
"Morgiane"—a long-lost opera from Black Catholic composer Edmond Dédé—made headlines when performed for the first time, courtesy of OperaCréole.
— Black Catholic Messenger (@BlkCathlicMsngr) March 12, 2026
OC cofounders, mother-daughter pair Givonna Joseph and Aria Mason, join the BCM podcast to discuss their work. https://t.co/7qKMqe218y pic.twitter.com/rkttcN0H6G
The answer involved various collaborations to parse the French manuscript, transcribe the score, and ultimately translate the text for supertitles in English. This involved working with the French consulate, as well as New Orleans’ own Patrick Dupré Quigley of Washington-based Opera Lafayette.
There was also the task of assembling a cast, crew and orchestra for “Morgiane,” a soaring love story set in ancient Persia. The final product featured collaborations with Opera Lafayette and the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. Quigley served as conductor for the “Morgiane” premiere and a subsequent mini-tour in D.C., Maryland, and New York. An official recording was made during the performance at the University of Maryland’s Dekelboum Concert Hall in February 2025.
“Mary Elizabeth Williams sings the role of Morgiane. Nicole Cabell sings the role of her daughter, Amine. Chauncey Packer is Amin's fiance, Ali, and Kenneth Kellogg, who sang Malcolm X [in “X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X”] and has initiated many roles, sings the role of the Sultan of Persia. Hagi Hassan is an Arabian man who marries Morgiane, and that's Joshua Conyers. Jonathan Woody [is Beher],” said Givonna Joseph.
“We had our own people who had small roles, Valencia Pleasant, Taylor J. White, and Tony Domino, the grandson of Fats Domino, is an operatic tenor. We brought 16 singers from New Orleans up… It was a wonderful experience.”
Dédé, himself a Black Catholic from New Orleans, died in Paris in 1903 without ever seeing “Morgiane” performed. Members of his family from the United States and France were present for the 2025 premiere, linking disconnected generations of White and Black descendants at the show in New Orleans, a city with a long history at the intersection of Black people and the classical arts.
“We consider ourselves the first city of opera because we had the first full opera season in 1796,” said Joseph, who noted that audiences—though segregated into race-based sections—included people from various backgrounds during the French and Spanish colonial eras.
“We became a mecca for French teachers, French composers, people coming from all over the world to perform. We had five or six opera houses over a period of time, sometimes two running at the same time. We premiered over 200 operas from Europe in America for the first time.”
Xavier University of Louisiana, the nation’s only Catholic HBCU, was also part and parcel to this history, heavily promoting classical music since its founding in 1925. Half a century later, one of its teaching nuns, Mary Elise Sisson of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, cofounded Opera Ebony, which partnered with Opera Créole on the “Morgiane” premiere.
“Xavier has had a very long history of performing classical music and opera with their music department,” said Mason, who with her mother was originally made aware of “Morgiane” after a copy landed at XULA in 2014.
“ They staged whole operas, they staged whole works, they turned out great musical talent.”
Several Xavier alums, including Taylor J. White, were featured in the “Morgiane” premiere and have worked with OperaCréole, which released their recording of the opera for download and streaming in January. They also hosted a release party at XULA in late February.
Joseph and Mason say OperaCréole has more in store and that “Morgiane” still has room to grow, as the performances so far were not fully staged. Mason says she has already begun researching what a full production would look like, and how to ensure diverse voices are included in the process.
“It would be a great undertaking, but I would want to make sure that I'm working with Black and brown students here locally, bring them on as production interns, pass the knowledge on. I think that that's a crucial piece of what we want to do as well,” said Mason.
“It's not just about honoring the legacy, but also about how we keep moving forward, so that it's not as necessary for an OperaCréole to exist in 50 years and in 100 years. So that it is standard…part of the canon of what is known of opera and classical music and what is known of Black music.”
To hear more about OperaCréole and Edmond Dédé, listen to the latest episode of the Black Catholic Messenger show on your favorite podcast platform.
Nate Tinner-Williams is co-founder and editor of Black Catholic Messenger.
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