A Symposium at UCLA
October 1-3, 2026
This three-day symposium welcomes scholars, practitioners, and students to join the international Black Opera Research Network (BORN) for papers, a workshop, a performance, and the North American premiere of an opera film. Highlights include a performance by composer Yvette Janine Jackson and her Radio Opera Workshop ensemble; a presentation on the launch of BORN’s Black Opera Critical Editions series; and a screening of the South African opera film Nkoli: A Fierce and Fabulous Life, about anti- Apartheid and AIDS activist Simon Nkoli, with an introduction by the composer and music director.
For the most up-to-date information and further details about the symposium please visit our event website: https://schoolofmusic.ucla.edu/opera-black-queer/
This event is made possible by the UCLA Chancellor’s Arts Initiative, the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, the UCLA Center for Musical Humanities, the UCLA Walter H. Rubsamen Music Library and the UCLA Music Library’s Hugo and Christine Davise Fund.
Yvette Janine Jackson and the screening of Nkoli are presented in partnership with CAP UCLA at the UCLA Nimoy Theater.
This program is made possible by the Joyce S and Robert U. Nelson Fund. Robert Uriel Nelson was a revered musicologist and music professor at UCLA, who, together with his wife, established a generous endowment for the university to make programs like this possible.