About Us
Experience | Leadership
B.L.A.C. is comprised of eight of the leading BIack classical vocal artists and musicians performing and teaching around the world today. All of B.L.A.C.'s founding Board Members and Executive Director share the singular common goal to uplift, empower and create mentorship, scholarship and performance opportunities for others in their community so that the greater musical arts community may benefit from their enormous gifts and talents.
Executive Director
Alyson Cambridge
Board Members
J'Nai Bridges
Lawrence Brownlee
Kenneth Kellogg
Laquita Mitchell
Kenneth Overton
Morris Robinson
Kevin Short
Alyson Cambridge
Executive Director
Alyson Cambridge is one the most diverse and compelling vocalists on the scene today, performing for over two decades on the world’s leading opera and concert stages – The Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Lyric Opera of Chicago, London’s Royal Albert Hall, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and New York's Broadway Theatre but to name a few. The lirico spinto soprano heroines of Puccini, Mozart and Bizet have been her calling card in opera, but she is equally at home in musical theater and jazz, acclaimed for her performances in Show Boat, Porgy and Bess, The Sound of Music and in her Broadway debut. Album recordings include From the Diary of Sally Hemings, Until Now and Sisters In Song. An active producer, Alyson co-created and produced the original rock opera fusion show, Rock Me Amadeus Live, as well as other musical concerts and events. In addition to performing and producing, Alyson also maintains a busy modeling and television career, and dedicates her spare to time to artistic and philanthropic causes close to her heart.
J'Nai Bridges
Board Member
Two-time Grammy® Award-winning American mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges, known for her “plush-voiced mezzo-soprano” (The New York Times), has graced the world’s top opera and concert stages including the Metropolitan Opera, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Dutch National Opera and many more. In 2022 she was announced as one of the Kennedy Center’s NEXT50 cultural leaders. She led a highly successful panel on race and inequality in opera with the Los Angeles Opera that drew international acclaim for being a “conversation of striking scope and candor” (The New York Times). Awards include a 2018 Sphinx Medal of Excellence Award, a 2016 Richard Tucker Career Grant, 1st prize winner at the 2016 Francisco Viñas International Competition, a 2012 Marian Anderson award to name a few. A native of Tacoma, Washington, she completed a three-year residency at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, earned her Master of Music degree from Curtis Institute of Music, and her Bachelor of Music degree from Manhattan School of Music.
www,jnaibridges.com
Lawrence Brownlee
Board Member
Lawrence Brownlee is a leading figure in opera, both as a singer on the world's top stages, and as a voice for activism and diversity in the industry. Captivating audiences and critics around the globe, he has been hailed as “an international star in the bel canto operatic repertory” (The New York Times), “one of the world’s leading bel canto stars” (The Guardian), and “one of the most in demand opera singers in the world today” (NPR). With an ever-increasing presence in opera, recitals, and concerts, Lawrence Brownlee has cemented his place as one of the top artists in classical music. He is a regular guest at the world’s most important opera houses including The Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Royal Opera House - Covent Garden, Bayerische Staatsoper, Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Opéra national de Paris, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Teatro Real, Opernhaus Zürich, and Wiener Staatsoper. He is a frequent recitalist and regularly performs at world-renowned recital venues including Carnegie Hall and Wigmore Hall. Mr. Brownlee serves as a Distinguished Visiting Professor for the Vocal Arts Department at the famed Juilliard School of New York City, and is a regular clinician giving masterclasses both in the US and abroad.
Kenneth Kellogg
Board Member
Praised for his "commanding stage presence" and "rich, resonant bass,” Kenneth Kellogg was born and raised in Washington, D.C. He has been named as the inaugural Artist Ambassador at Seattle Opera. He began formal training at the Duke Ellington School of the Performing Arts. Kellogg is an alumnus of the Adler Fellowship Program at San Francisco Opera and the Domingo-Cafritz Emerging Artist Program at Washington National Opera. He trained at the Academy of Vocal Arts and holds degrees from the University of Michigan and Ohio University. While maintaining a busy performance schedule, he is a frequent guest teacher, mentor, and lecturer for music programs through across the US.
Laquita Mitchell
Board Member
Soprano Laquita Mitchell consistently earns acclaim on eminent international opera and concert stages, leading performances with Los Angeles Opera, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, New York City Opera, Washington National Opera, Opéra Comique in Paris, New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, The Tanglewood Festival, Cleveland Symphony Orchestra and the Cincinnati Orchestra, among many others. Ms. Mitchell is the soprano soloist in the 2021 Grammy- nominated oratorio “Sanctuary Road” by Paul Moravec and the Oratorio Society of New York. With an active concert and operatic career, Ms. Mitchell is also an educator who holds voice faculty positions at Mannes School of Music and at Brooklyn College CUNY. Ms. Mitchell is a distinguished alumnus of Westminster Choir College and Manhattan School of Music.
Kenneth Overton
Board Member
In 2020, Kenneth became a Grammy Award Winner for Best Choral Performance in the title role of Richard Danielpour’s The Passion of Yeshua with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by JoAnn Falletta. In the following season, Kenneth made his Metropolitan Opera debut joining the Grammy Award winning cast of Porgy and Bess. On the operatic stage Kenneth has sung leading roles across the globe including, San Francisco Opera, Welsh National Opera, Royal Danish Opera, L’Opera de Montreal, Opera Carolina, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Palacios Bellas Artes, Bregenzer Festspiele, Nashville Opera and Opera Memphis. On the concert stage Kenneth has been a soloist with The Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, The Sopot Festival in Poland, Lithuanian State Orchestra, The New York Choral Society, The Washington Chorus, The National Philharmonic and the New York Philharmonic in such prestigious Halls as Carnegie Hall, David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center and The Kennedy Center. In addition to performing, Kenneth has branched into film production, and as a clinician and teaching artist at various conservatories, festivals, and schools of music.
Morris Robinson
Board Member
Morris Robinson is considered one the most interesting and sought-after basses performing today. He regularly appears at the Metropolitan Opera, where he is a graduate of the Lindemann Young Artist Program. He debuted there in a production of Fidelio and has since appeared as Sarastro in The Magic Flute (both in the original production and in the children’s English version), Ferrando in Il Trovatore, the King in Aida, and in roles in Nabucco, Tannhäuser, and the new productions of Les Troyens and Salome. He has also appeared at the San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Dallas Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Seattle Opera, LA Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Theater of St. Louis, Teatro alla Scala, Volksoper Wien, Opera Australia, and the Aix-en-Provence Festival. His many roles include the title role in Porgy and Bess, Sarastro in The Magic Flute, Osmin in The Abduction from the Seraglio, Ramfis in Aida, Zaccaria in Nabucco, Sparafucile in Rigoletto, Commendatore in Don Giovanni, Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlo, Timur in Turandot, the Bonze in Madama Butterfly, Padre Guardiano in La Forza del Destino, Ferrando in Il Trovatore, and Fasolt in Das Rheingold.
Kevin Short
Board Member
Bass-baritone Kevin Short has performed with the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Teatro San Carlo, Paris Opéra Comique, Teatro Nacional de Săo Carlos, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Welsh National Opera, Grand Théatre de Luxembourg, Oper der Stadt Köln, Staatstheater Stuttgart, Bregenzer Festspiele, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, and the Savonlinna Festival.
Kevin’s concert work includes performances with the Boston Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Berlin Rundfunkorchester, Hamburg Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, Swiss and Italian RAI Orchestra, Radio France Orchestra, Orchestre de l’Opéra de Marseille, New Japan Philharmonic, Nagano Winter Olympics Orchestra, and the St. Petersburg State Symphony and the Moscow Philharmonic in Russia. Kevin can also be heard on the Pentatone, San Francisco Classics, and Naxos recording labels and teaches voice at the Juilliard School of Music, the University of Maryland and the Curtis Institute of Music.
