The International Brazilian Opera Company opens the second Biennial IBOC Opera Nova: NYC Concert Season at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall on November 16, 2026 at 8 pm. Tickets for the Carnegie Hall performance start at $45 (+ $11 service fee) and can be purchased at https://www.carnegiehall.org/calendar/2026/11/16/opera-nova-contemporary-arias-from-brazilian-composers-0800pm.
Opera is a vibrant art form in Brazil. November 16th is the New Yorker’s rare opportunity to see Brazilian opera featured at a major concert venue.
IBOC, the International Brazilian Opera Company, opens its biennial recital series, Opera Nova: NYC, in collaboration with Opera Ebony at Carnegie Hall. Works from seven living Brazilian opera composers are curated by IBOC Artistic Director João MacDowell. The select gems from Brazil’s new opera scene highlight how Brazilians continue to reshape opera with their unique cultural blends.
Most works are U.S. premieres, featuring composers spanning four generations and distinct approaches to contemporary opera, from Guggenheim Fellow-awardee Jocy de Oliveira and experimental music pioneer Jorge Antunes to emerging talents Franceile Regina and Sombrio da Silva.
“New York is hearing more of the Americas on its major stages. This is the moment to listen to Brazilian composers. We hope to be bringing awareness to an exciting scene, with a variety of styles and the potential to enchant US opera audiences,” says João MacDowell
The concert also honors a connection planted more than 20 years ago. MacDowell met Opera Ebony co-founder Benjamin Matthews in 2002 while the bass-baritone was on tour at Rio de Janeiro’s Municipal Theater. Matthews, who performed with the Metropolitan Opera and New York City Opera, helped build a company that has supported Black artists, inclusive repertoire and new operas. After looking at some of Joao MacDowell’s scores, he invited the young musician to come to NYC to work with opera in 2002. Shortly after MacDowell arrived in NYC, Matthews passed away, and by 2014, the composer had co-founded the International Brazilian Opera Company. The connection between Brazilian and African-American culture, Harlem and Brazil, makes this concert meaningful at a larger cultural level.
The performers serve the range of these compositions. Opera Ebony’s 2023 Benjamin Matthews Vocal Competition winner Kyaunnee Richardson joins Victoria A. Davis and Chantelle Grant in de Oliveira’s a cappella work. Ebo, whose Florestan in Heartbeat Opera’s Fidelio drew notice from The New Yorker, sings from the prolific Ripper and joins Richardson, Grant and baritone Kevin Daniel Johnson in MacDowell’s Brazilian folklore-motif-inspired vocal quartet and piano Suite No. 7 from the opera Tamanduá. Johnson and Davis make their Carnegie Hall debut. Pianist Mireia Frutos Fernández, an experienced collaborator with living composers, anchors the works for voice and piano.
“This concert is a homecoming as much as a premiere. Benjamin Matthews built Opera Ebony on the belief that great voices deserve great stages. What began as a mentorship between Benjamin Matthews and João MacDowell has grown into a collaboration between our companies. Four of our five singers are past Benjamin Matthews Vocal Competition Finalist/Winners, some have debuted at the Metropolitan Opera, and seeing them perform a program of seven Brazilian compositions, including a work by João himself, at Carnegie Hall feels like Ben’s legacy coming full circle. This collaboration has been a long time coming. November 16th is the first chapter, and we fully intend to write many more together.” — Eldric Bashful, Executive Director, Opera Ebony
The second biennial IBOC Opera Nova: NYC concert series is supported by the Opera America/Howard Gilman Grant for Small NYC Opera Organizations, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, Opera Ebony, Berimbau Restaurant and the Federative Republic of Brazil.
The IBOC Opera Nova 2026/2027 NYC recital season is scheduled to continue with a salon-style performance series in January 2027, at Berimbau Restaurant’s 2nd Floor, pairing a culture-in-the-making showcase with Berimbau’s Brazilian cocktail and tasting menu. Follow @ibrazilianopera for updates and tickets.
The Nov.16th Carnegie Hall concert features work by the following composers: (Complete bios at the end of this press release)
Clarice Assad, a two-time Latin Grammy nominee and the daughter of famed Brazilian guitarist, Sergio Assad; Jorge de Freitas Antunes, considered the founder of Brazilian electronic music; Franciele Regina Lima, an emerging composer and expert in 20th-century musical aesthetics and avant-garde language; João MacDowell, IBOC Artistic Director and founder, author of five operas, including Tamanduá (Boston Metropolitan Opera Award), and The Seventh Seal with libretto by the late Ingmar Bergman; Jocy de Oliveira, the nonagerian Guggenheim-Fellow Award winner, whose early career placed her as one of Stravinsky and John Cage preferred concert pianist; João Guilherme Ripper, a prolific opera composer and current President of the Academia Brasileira de Música; Sombria da Silva, an emerging contemporary composer and multi-instrumentalist whose work moves between concert music, experimental idioms, and opera. Da Silva is connected to IBOC’s new-opera incubator pipeline, with his opera project Imperfect Decisions developed and presented through IBOC Institute programs.
*All are U.S. premieres with the exception of Assad’s The Selfish Giant
- Aria from The Selfish Giant - the opera by Clarice Assad, with libretto by Lila Palmer. 2’, Baritone Kevin Johnson, and Mireia Frutos Fernández on piano. (not a U.S. premiere)
- Three arias from Imperatriz Leopoldina - the opera by Jorge Antunes. 18’, Dramatic Soprano Victoria A. Davis, and Mireia Frutos Fernández on Piano.
- “Sanninha, Eu Vi” - Aria from the opera Piedade by João Guilherme Ripper. 16’, tenor Nelson Ebo, and Mireia Frutos Fernández on piano.
- Aria from Gota Tártara (a nightmare opera) - the opera by Franciele Regina Lima, with libretto by Sofia Boito. 10’, Dramatic Soprano Victoria A. Davis, and Mireia Frutos Fernández on Piano.
- Five arias from Imperfect Decisions, the opera by Sombrio da Silva. 18’, Mezzo-Soprano (TBC), Soprano Kyaunnee Richardson, and Mireia Frutos Fernández on Piano.
- “Ouço Vozes Que Se Perdem Nas Veredas Que Encontrei,” an aria by Jocy de Oliveira. 15’, Soprano Kyaunnee Richardson, Dramatic Soprano Victoria A. Davis and Mezzo Chantelle Grant (a cappella).
- Tamanduá - Suite No. 7 from the opera by João MacDowell. 20’. Soprano Kyaunnee Richardson, Mezzo Chantelle Grant, Tenor Nelson Ebo, Baritone Kevin Johnson, and Mireia Frutos Fernández on Piano.
Performance & Composing Artists: Bios & Photos Link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1tVaQmK2jx4U6zHZJoYN3IT1-yltU4mog?usp=sharing
Vocal Soloists:
Mezzo Soprano — Chantelle Grant
Lyric Soprano — Kyaunnee Richardson
Dramatic Soprano — Victoria A. Davis
Baritone — Kevin Johnson
Tenor — Nelson Ebo
Pianist: Mireia Frutos Fernández
Composer Bios
João MacDowell (b. Brasília) Noted by the Swedish press as “a new thinker in the genre” (Johanna Paulsson, Dagens Nyheter), the Brazilian composer has a career that spans from punk to opera. João MacDowell had his first Symphony premiered by the National Orchestra of Brasilia and is the author of five operas, including Tamanduá (Boston Metropolitan Opera Award), Plastic Flowers, Cries and Whispers, and The Seventh Seal with libretto by the late Ingmar Bergman. Other works by the composer include chamber music, soundtracks, and popular songs. As artistic director of the International Brazilian Opera Company, MacDowell has mentored dozens of young artists in their international careers and artistic development.
Jocy de Oliveira is one of Brazil’s most distinguished composers, pianists, and multimedia artists, internationally recognized for a body of work that bridges contemporary music, opera, electronics, theater, and film. Her compositions have been presented at major venues and festivals including Carnegie Hall, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Berliner Festspiele, Radio France, the Salzburg Festival, and leading theaters throughout Brazil. As a pianist, she performed under Igor Stravinsky and championed composers including Iannis Xenakis, Luciano Berio, John Cage, and Claudio Santoro, with several works dedicated to her. Her extensive discography includes Olivier Messiaen for NAXOS. Eight of her multimedia operas were released on DVD. A recipient of Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundation fellowships and Brazil’s prestigious Jabuti Prize for Literature, she is a lifelong member of the Brazilian Academy of Music and holds an honorary doctorate from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
Clarice Assad (b. Rio de Janeiro) is a Brazilian-American composer, pianist, and inventive vocalist celebrated for music that blends contemporary classical craft with Brazilian popular roots, jazz, and global influences. From the renowned Assad musical family (including guitarist Sérgio Assad), she has performed professionally since childhood and later trained in the U.S., earning degrees from Roosevelt University (Chicago) and the University of Michigan. Her work is sought internationally by leading ensembles and presenters, and she has received major-profile recognition including Grammy nominations—notably for the album Archetypes created with Third Coast Percussion and Sérgio Assad—underscoring her role as a cross-genre composer bringing fresh dramatic color to today’s concert stage.
João Guilherme Ripper (b. Rio de Janeiro) is a composer, conductor, and widely recognized cultural leader in Brazil’s classical music ecosystem. A longtime professor at the Escola de Música da UFRJ (since 1988), he served as Director of the UFRJ School of Music (1999–2003) and later led one of Brazil’s most important chamber-music venues as Director of Sala Cecília Meireles for 11 years, overseeing a major renovation and revitalization. With a doctorate in composition from The Catholic University of America (Washington, D.C.) and training that also includes arts economics in Paris, Ripper is currently President of the Academia Brasileira de Música, combining composing with high-level institutional leadership.
Franciele Regina Lima is a contemporary Brazilian composer who has been a standout in the contemporary and experimental lyrical music scene. Her academic and artistic journey includes in-depth research on 20th-century musical aesthetics and avant-garde languages, and research on experimental music and the dialogues between sound and image at São Paulo State University (UNESP), where she completed her Bachelor's in Music, focusing on Instrumental and Electroacoustic Composition.
Jorge de Freitas Antunes (b. Rio de Janeiro) is widely cited as a pioneer of electronic music in Brazil, bridging composition, acoustics, and technological experimentation since the 1960s. Alongside his formal music training, he pursued studies in physics, built his own electronic equipment, and founded an early research studio dedicated to chromo-musical and electronic exploration. Since the 1970s, he has been a central figure at the University of Brasília, where he has taught composition and musical acoustics and directed electroacoustic research. His catalog spans electroacoustic works and stage works, including operas such as Qorpo Santo—and he remains an influential reference point in Brazil’s avant-garde lineage.
Sombrio da Silva (b. Brasília) is an emerging contemporary composer and multi-instrumentalist whose work moves between concert music, experimental idioms, and opera. He is connected to IBOC’s new-opera incubator pipeline, with his opera project Imperfect Decisions developed and presented through IBOC Institute programs—including featured performances in Seeding New Operas (2023), Opera Nova Festival NY (2024) and the Institute’s Opera Composition: The Overture recital series (2025). Brazilian media also describe him as a prolific creator, with releases spanning collaborations, solo albums, and soundtrack work, bringing a distinctly current, gender-fluid voice to contemporary Brazilian vocal writing.
About IBOC and Opera Nova: Opera Nova is the International Brazilian Opera Company’s platform for developing and presenting new opera across New York City and Brasília. Its recitals bring audiences close to works in progress and lead toward staged world premieres, creating opportunities for artists and producing partners in both cities to encounter repertoire that can travel, grow and lead to future co-productions. Founded in New York in 2014, the International Brazilian Opera Company (IBOC) develops new repertoire with Brazilian and international artists and supports emerging talent through performances, education and production. Its Brasília presence links the two cities’ artists and production communities.
https://www.iboc.nyc/
About Opera Ebony: Rooted in artistic integrity and the conviction that opera belongs to everyone, Opera Ebony has championed under-represented artists for over five decades.
Opera Ebony was founded in 1974 by bass-baritone Benjamin Matthews, alongside co-founders pianist Wayne Sanders, Sister Elise Sisson, SBS, mezzo-soprano, and conductor Margaret Harris. Together, they established an institution rooted in a simple, radical premise: that the operatic tradition is enriched—not diminished—when the artists who shape it reflect the full breadth of American life.
Over five decades, Opera Ebony has served as a launchpad for under-represented artists whose talent and training demanded a stage. Many went on to careers at the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, the Royal Opera House, and concert halls across the globe. Opera Ebony also maintained an industry innovator by promoting women composers and librettists from its inception, a practice that still continues.
Today, Opera Ebony is the longest continuously operated Black opera company in the world. That distinction reflects an unbroken commitment to keeping this art form alive, accessible, and accountable to the communities it serves.
https://www.operaebony.org/
Event venue
Carnegie Hall, 57th Street and, 7th Ave, New York, NY 10019, United States
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