Carrie Steele Logan ( c. 1829 – November 3, 1900) was an American philanthropist, founder of the oldest black orphanage in the United States
The Atlanta Opera announces that tickets are now on sale for the world premiere of Steele Roots, an opera centered on the life of historic Atlantan Carrie Steele Logan. The contemporary opera/musical tells the story about the life and legacy of historic Atlantan who founded the first Black orphanage in the U.S. to care for children orphaned or abandoned after the Civil War.
Emancipated by the Civil War, Steele was a formerly enslaved woman of enormous capacity. She learned to read, supported herself and her own child as a train station matron while fundraising and caring for abandoned babies and orphaned children.
The home she founded in 1884 is still helping children today!
Steele Roots is one of the performances featured in the Atlanta Opera’s 96-Hour Opera Festival dedicated to showcasing innovative creatives and expanding the boundaries of opera with new works.
“Since its inception 4 years ago, the 96-Hour Opera Festival has grown to be one of the
flagships of The Atlanta Opera,” says Tomer Zvulun, the Carl W. Knobloch, Jr. General and
Artistic Director of The Atlanta Opera. “Over a relatively short period of time, this project has
introduced us to bold, new creatives whose passion for storytelling has brought important
new works to life. This program provides support infrastructure for these fresh voices to be
heard. We are energized by the work, by the artists who are headed our way in the coming
months and are looking forward to a great festival.”
The Festival’s public events are scheduled over three days at the Ray Charles Performing Arts
Center at Morehouse College:
• Friday, June 20 at 7:00 pm – World Premiere Steele Roots
• Saturday, June 21 at 3:00 pm – Competition Showcase featuring 5 new opera scenes, a
preview of the commission from last year’s winner, voting and awards
• Sunday, June 22 at 3:00 pm – performance of Steele Roots
Tickets are available as a Festival pass for admission to one performance and the competition. A
Festival pass is $50; Tickets to Steele Roots are $35 general admission; Tickets to the Competition
Showcase are $25 general admission.
Tickets are available at https://www.atlantaopera.org/about/96-hour-opera-festival/
The Ray Charles Performing Arts Center is located at 900 West End Ave, SW, Atlanta GA, 30310 – on
the campus of Morehouse College.
The 96-Hour Opera Competition, now in its fourth season, celebrates emerging creative talents
from underrepresented communities and offers a unique platform for composers and librettists to
bring new stories to life. Competition participants are selected through a rigorous process and
mentored by industry leaders to prepare and stage compelling ten-minute operas in just 96 hours.
Five operas are presented in competition for a $10,000 award as part of a $25,000 commission to
create a new chamber opera to premiere at an upcoming Festival. Each creative team includes a
composer and a librettist who have three months to write an opera scene on a prompt provided by
The Atlanta Opera. With 96 hours to rehearse with the musicians, each team’s work is judged by a
distinguished panel. The prize is awarded at a Competition Showcase that is open to the public and
will be available to view as a livestream.
The 96-Hour Opera Festival is sponsored by The Antinori Foundation, The Coca-Cola Foundation,
The Rich’s Foundation, UPS, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support is
provided by the Fulton County Arts & Culture and by The City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural
Affairs. The Atlanta Opera is grateful for the continuing support of these sponsors for the creation of
new opera.
Announcing Competition Finalists
Selected from a field of more than 60 applicants, these finalists will compete for the
prize/commission.
Rebecca Gray and Rachel Gray
Gillian Rae Perry and Mo Holmes
Daniel Reza Sabzghabaei and Ashlee Haze
Dina Pruzhansky and Hai-Ting Chinn
Iván Enrique Rodríguez and Laura Barati
The teams will write their opera scenes based on a prompt as provided by The Atlanta Opera,
bringing their completed works to Atlanta in June 2025. After spending 96 hours with singers and a
music director preparing and staging their work, the scenes will be presented at a public showcase
and judged. The winning team is announced at the end of the showcase. The panel of judges
includes genre-busting composer and writer Ricky Ian Gordon, acclaimed singer and Associate
Director of the Laffont Competition at The Met Priti Gandi, award-winning director, playwright, and
teacher Tazewell Thompson, NY Times bestselling and award-winning author Andrea Pinkney,
Jennings Hertz Artistic Director of the Alliance Theatre Tinashe Kajese-Bolden, and General and
Artistic Director of The Atlanta Opera Tomer Zvulun.
Steele Roots – A World Premiere
Winners of the 2023 competition, composer Dave Ragland and librettist Selda Sahin have created a
new chamber opera titled Steele Roots, a work based on the life of Carrie Steele Logan (c1829-
1900). Carrie was a formerly enslaved woman who dedicated her life to caring for needy children in
Atlanta, GA, and is now buried in the historic Oakland Cemetery. She founded the oldest black
orphanage in the United States – an institution that is still serving children today. Eminent director
Tazewell Thompson mentored the winning team throughout the 2-year process of bringing this
opera into production.
Steele Roots is an opera that examines themes of legacy, family, and
perseverance through the lens of its central character, Carrie Steele. Set in
the late 19th century at the Atlanta Terminal train station and moving into the
present day, the story follows Carrie, who used her literacy, integrity, and
compassion to care for abandoned children while raising funds by selling
her autobiography to establish a permanent home for them. Carrie’s legacy
is explored via Ruth, a 12-year-old in her care who is learning to read, and
Raymond, a coworker who supports her efforts. The narrative shifts
between past and present as Michael, a modern-day father, arrives seeking
a connection to his family roots to become a better father to his newborn
daughter. The story explores ideas of community, responsibility, and the
enduring influence of one person’s actions. Carrie’s efforts endure in the
Carrie Steele-Pitts Home, an Atlanta institution and a testament to her
determination and vision. With its blend of music and dialogue, Steele Roots reflects how a single
person can change the world for the better.
Composer Dave Ragland is an Emmy nominated composer, conductor, vocalist and educator
whose operas for children and other works have been performed across the country. He is based in
Nashville where his opera One Vote Won was honored with the 2021 American Prize in
Composition.
Librettist Selda Sahin is an Emmy-winning songwriter whose work has appeared in the feature film
American Reject and the short film Grind starring Anthony Rapp. With her usual writing partner,
Derek Gregor, Sahin has an additional premiere of a musical Particle premiering in 2025.
Directed by Tazwell Thompson and conducted by Nicole Neely, the cast features Atlanta favorite,
soprano Indra A. Thomas as Carrie Steele with baritone Daniel Rich, who recently made his debut
at The Met in Der Rosenkavalier, as Raymond. Ruth is performed by TAO Studio Artist soprano
Amanda Sheriff and Michael by tenor Martin Bakari, who was seen on The Atlanta Opera stage in
the title role of Charlie Parker’s Yardbird and in Porgy and Bess (Mingo). Rehanna Thelwell, mezzosoprano, brings her exceptional talent to the role of Sarah and was last seen on The Atlanta Opera
stage in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Hippolyta). The creative team includes the renowned
Scenic/Props & Projection designer Donald Eastman, Costume designer Gibron Shepperd,
lighting designer Jaime Mancuso, and sound designer Fabian Obispo.
Workshop Preview of Water Memory
The winners of the 2024 competition, composer Kitty Brazelton and librettist Vaibu Mohan, will
present their work-in-progress during the Competition Showcase as the judges deliberate. Their
one-act opera, Jala Smriti – Water Memory, looks to a future when artificial intelligence becomes a
tangible assist to people whose lives are falling into memory loss and dementia. This sneak peek
completes the cycle of the 96-Hour Opera Festival with a presentation of the original competition,
the work in progress, and the world premiere. Jala Smriti – Water Memory is a collaboration with GA
Tech Arts.
