X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X

In recent seasons, the Met has put renewed emphasis on presenting the work of today’s leading composers. This mission continued in the fall of 2023 with the company premiere of Anthony Davis’s X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X. The first opera composed by the esteemed Pulitzer Prize winner, X tells the story of the civil rights icon through a series of fast-paced vignettes, set to a score drawing upon Davis’s many, varied stylistic influences—from jazz and gospel to non-Western, African, European classical, Indonesian gamelan, and experimental music. In this performance, recorded as part of the Met’s Live in HD series of cinema transmissions, baritone Will Liverman stars as Malcolm, headlining a tour-de-force cast that also features soprano Leah Hawkins, mezzo-soprano Raehann Bryce-Davis, tenor Victor Ryan Robertson, and bass-baritone Michael Sumuel. Kazem Abdullah takes the podium to conduct a vivid production from Tony-nominated director Robert O’Hara, who powerfully frames Malcolm’s story through the lens of Afrofuturism.