Cincinnati Opera postpones Afrofuturist-themed `Lalovavi' by a year to the summer of 2026

CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Opera has postponed the premiere of the Afrofuturist-themed “Lalovavi” by one year to the summer of 2026.

The company said Monday the libretto by Tifara Brown is still being worked on, delaying the music composition by Kevin Day.

“Lalovavi” had been announced in February with a premiere date of June 19, 2025, in conjunction with the Juneteenth holiday. “Lalovavi” means “love” in the Tut language created by enslaved Black Americans, and the three-act work is set in the year 2119.

The second of the three works in the company's Black Opera Project, “Good Trouble: The Boy from Troy,” was postponed by a year to the summer of 2027. Inspired by the life of U.S. Rep. John Lewis, it has music by Maria Thompson Corley and a libretto by Diana Solomon-Glover.

A third work is to debut in the summer of 2028.

“We’re committed to providing each of these important new stories the creative space and resources to achieve their creators’ respective visions,” Cincinnati Opera artistic director Evans Mirageas said in a statement. "This adjustment will allow additional time for each opera’s development and refinement.”