*world premiere* AKUA NARU / TYSHAWN SOREY / ANTA HELENA RECKE / ENSEMBLE RESONANZ

LONGING TO TELL - A BLUES OPERA

BASED ON THE BOOK "LONGING TO TELL" BY TRICIA ROSE.

Philosopher Cornel West once called her »the Toni Morrison of hip-hop«: akua naru, the U.S.-American musician, scholar, and activist, has made a name for herself as a professor of hip-hop at UC Santa Cruz and as an artist with six albums to her name. On her latest album, all about love: new visions — inspired by feminist thinker bell hooks—akua naru already collaborated with Hamburg’s Ensemble Resonanz. Now, they are coming together again to create a production for the big stage. The evening is developed in collaboration with composer, multi-instrumentalist, and Pulitzer Prize winner Tyshawn Sorey, as well as the acclaimed director Anta Helena Recke. The starting point for the piece is the 2003 book Longing to Tell: Black Women Talk About Sexuality and Intimacy by American sociologist and pioneering hip-hop scholar Tricia Rose, which brings together 21 stories of Black women from diverse backgrounds and generations. Stories of love and loss, tenderness and violence, intimacy and community will now come to life on stage in a concert performance featuring akua naru, Tyshawn Sorey and Ensemble Resonanz — premiering before embarking on a European tour.