Composed in 1887 by Edmond Dédé, “Morgiane” finally is moving from “the page to the stage,” a dream that the New Orleans OperaCréole co-founder Givonna Joseph has had for more than a decade.
“Homecoming: Edmond Dédé’s Morgiane” will premiere at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 23 at St. Louis Cathedral. A pre-concert talk is scheduled at 5 p.m at Williams Research Center, 410 Chartres St.
The free opera is presented by the Historic New Orleans Collection, the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and OperaCréole in partnership with the Washington, D.C. – based Opera Lafayette, which collaborated to produce Edmond Dédé’s “Morgiane, ou, Le Sultan d’Ispahan.”
According to Joseph, “Morgiane” is likely the first four-act opera written by a Black American composer. Dédé was born and studied in New Orleans before leaving because of racism in 1848. He wrote “Morgiane” while living in France.
“Lauded for works that transformed some of France’s most popular stages, Dédé packed a variety of musical genres into ‘Morgiane,’” the Historic New Orleans Collection states. It is a story about vengeance, truth, and reconciliation. It opens with a young couple’s wedding day disrupted because a sultan desires the bride. The bride’s family seeks revenge, bringing a “shocking revelation to light.”

Guest conductor Patrick Dupre Quigley will direct the orchestra. The two lead cast members are soprano Mary Elizabeth Williams as Morgiane, and bass Kenneth Kellogg as Sultan Kourouschah. OperaCreole’s principal artists in the opera are Ivan Griffin, Taylor J. White, Joshua Staes and Valencia Pleasant.
The cast will perform “Morgiane” on the east coast Feb. 3-7 in partnership with Opera Lafayette.
“‘Morgiane’ finally takes the stage in 2025,” Joseph wrote. “It has meant the world to me, but it means even more to the city of his birth. The composer has come home to St. Louis Cathedral, where he was baptized in 1828. Let the city rejoice!”
For more tales from New Orleans history, visit the Back in the Day archives.
UPDATE: The premiere of “Morgiane” has been rescheduled to Friday, Jan. 24 at 7:30 p.m. due to inclement weather.