EarRelevant Staff | 3 DEC 2025
DETROIT, Michigan— Detroit Opera will begin its 2025–26 season with a double bill entitled “Highways and Valleys – Two American Love Stories,” presenting two rarely staged American operas: Highway 1, USA by William Grant Still and Down in the Valley by Kurt Weill. Performances will take place at the Detroit Opera House on December 7, 11, and 13.
Highway 1, USA, composed by Still—widely regarded as “the dean of African American composers”—dramatizes the hopes and struggles of an African American couple running a gas station while supporting the younger brother’s education. A crisis forces them to confront questions of family, responsibility, success, and the meaning of the American Dream. The work received a major revival in 2024 at LA Opera.
Meanwhile, Weill’s “folk opera” Down in the Valley—originally composed for radio—traces a tragic love story set against a backdrop of moral reckoning and social tension. The drama begins and ends in a jail cell where a young man condemns himself for a crime committed in defense of his beloved, Jennie.
The new staging features direction by Kaneza Schaal, who returns to Detroit Opera after directing their 2021 production of Blue. Music director Roberto Kalb will conduct.
Casting draws on a mix of returning and debuting artists. Among them are soprano Nicole Heaston, mezzo-soprano Rehanna Thelwell, tenor Victor Ryan Robertson, bass-baritone Davóne Tines, and baritone Babatunde Akinboboye; Detroit native Lawrence Mitchell Matthews will make his company debut.
In addition to the main performances, Detroit Opera plans several related community events, including a free public discussion of Still’s life and musical legacy at the Detroit Public Library on December 9. The program will feature music by the company’s resident artists and contributions from the Detroit Opera Orchestra.
With this double-bill, Detroit Opera aims to spotlight American operatic works rooted in vernacular traditions—from blues and gospel to folk—offering audiences a program that blends intimate domestic drama and folk-inflected tragedy in a single evening. For more informatio and tickets, visit: detroitopera.org ■
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- Detroit Opera: detroitopera.org
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