It is also a rare example of an opera by a Black composer and a Black librettist (Andrea Davis Pinkney) featuring a Black protagonist, and along with Terrence Blanchard’s recent Met premiere, Fire Shut Up In My Bones, has the potential to expand the canon of contemporary opera repertoire. Running at just one hour, The Snowy Day is a great way to introduce young ones to opera and how stories can be told with beautiful singing. “It makes for a good contrast with the slower moments when Peter is alone, because kids can sometimes be very profound.” “A lot of moments in the opera are just about excitement, and you can hear it in the music for sure,” says McMillon.

McMillon describes Thompson’s music for The Snowy Day as “magical,” with elements of Bach, gospel and even Rachmaninoff in its challenging rhythms and rich harmonies. “Peter is definitely the most active role I’ve ever done.” “It’s just part of the job,” laughs McMillon, who built up her stamina for the performance over the course of several rehearsals. “I related to that once I started getting into the score.”īut Peter is also a kid, and kids love to run around and go nuts, which meant McMillon, a singer-actress who sang the role of Gretel in the HGO’s digital production of Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, had to find a way to convey the energy of a seven-year-old boy and not run out of the breath a singer needs to deliver an aria. “Peter has a lot of arias where he’s expressing his thoughts about being alone and how he sees the world,” says McMillon. Having grown up an only child, McMillon connected with Peter’s introspective nature. Written and illustrated by Ezra Jack Keats, a Jewish man born to immigrant parents, the book tells the story of Peter, a young boy who upon waking up one morning to find his neighborhood is covered in snow, heads out to enjoy a rambunctious and contemplative day in the wintry cityscape.

The snowy day houston grand opera