By Lloyd Reshard, Jr., Artistic Director of Viola!
Viola! Song Cycle is a narrated song cycle composed by pianist and composer Lois Henry and written by Robin Reshard. It highlights the fate of the Viola Edwards Hospital which opened in 1922 as the first African American-owned hospital in Pensacola, Florida. At the core of this story is the owner, Viola Edwards, a nurse who built, opened and operated a 12-room hospital from 1922 to 1927 in the Historic Belmont DeVilliers neighborhood. For five years, the hospital stood as a place for healing and hope. On a Monday morning in 1927, a White woman came into the hospital. By Friday, she was dead. The lives of two women altered in pursuit of the American Dream.
“…You have this whole national conversation about the role and rights of women,” researcher and narrator Robin Reshard told WUWF 88.1 FM last year. Robin’s prose is coupled with the music of Lois Henry, whose piano concerts and artistry are well known in Florida. To bring Robin and Lois’ poignant creation to life, Artistic Director and Opus One alum, Lloyd Reshard, Jr. has compiled five stellar operatic vocalists, including Soprano Lisa Lockhart and Baritone Dirk McCoy, frequent performers of St. Augustine’s First Coast Opera; Soprano Kara
Bishop-Grover from Tallahassee, Florida; Tenor Edward Washington II, graduate of Niceville High School and currently performing at the Metropolitan Opera in their production of Porgy and Bess; as well as himself.
Viola! Song Cycle was commissioned in 2019 by the Kukua Institute, a 501 (c) (3) charitable organization that is a place to grow and share the cultural, intellectual, economic abilities & contributions of African Americans. In honor of Black History Month, the Mattie Kelly Arts Center and Northwest Florida State College are hosting this 1 hour and 15-minute performance followed by a 30-minute Q & A. Join us, Tuesday, February 11, 2020 at 7:30 p.m. at the Mattie Kelly Arts Center, 100 E College Blvd, Niceville, FL 32578. $35 General Admission, $15 Student Discount (w/ ID at the door) Purchase tickets at https://mattiekellyartscenter.org/event/the-viola-song-cycle/ .