1 – 3 October 2026, Los Angeles, California, and online
Opera | Black | Queer: all three terms are contested. What kinds of performances count as operas? Who, and what, qualifies as Black? Which people, acts, and stories are queer? UCLA hosts the international working team of the Black Opera Research Network (BORN) for a symposium featuring the North American premiere of the film Nkoli: A Fierce & Fabulous Life, introduced by composer Philip Miller and music director Tshegofatso Moeng. Nkoli: A Fierce & Fabulous Life is a musical celebration of the life of Simon Nkoli (1957-1998), the Black South African activist who fought against Apartheid and in favor of gay rights.
This symposium will feature contributions that interrogate the intersectionalities of these three capacious terms, either in total (opera, Black, queer) or in part (opera and Black, opera and queer). Twenty-minute papers and lecture-recitals of up to 30 minutes will be part of the program.
The symposium will take place in hybrid format to enable broad accessibility and facilitate participation by scholars and practitioners outside the Global North. Audiences may attend online, and we can accommodate a limited number of virtual presentations, with priority given to those who are unable to attend in person due to international travel restrictions.
Sponsored by the UCLA Chancellor’s Arts Initiative, The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music Center for Musical Humanities, and the UCLA Walter H. Rubsamen Music Library, Davise Fund.