Ulysses Simpson Kay Born: Tucson, Ariz., 7 Jan. 1917 Died: Teaneck, N.J., 20 May 1995

(U.S. Opera Home Page)

• The Juggler of Our Lady. Opera in one act. Libretto by Alexander King after a French morality play. Composed 1956. Premiere 23 Feb. 1962, Xavier University Opera Workshop, New Orleans, LA.
• The Boor. Opera in one act. Libretto adapted by the composer after the play by Anton Chekov, translated by Vladimir Ussachevsky. Composed 1955. Premiere 2 Apr. 1968, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY.
• The Capitoline Venus. Opera in one act. Libretto by Judith Dvorkin after an episode in the writings of Mark Twain. Composed 1969. Premiere 12 Mar. 1971, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, IL.
• Jubilee. Opera in three acts. Libretto by Donald Dorr, after the novel by Margaret Walker. Composed 1974-6. Premiere 19 Nov. 1976, Opera/South, Jackson, MS.
• Frederick Douglass. Opera in three acts. Libretto by Donald Dorr. Composed 1979-85. Premiere 14 Apr. 1991, New Jersey State Opera, Newark Symphony Hall, Newark, NJ.

One of the twentieth century's most prominent African-American composers, Ulysses Kay was known in his lifetime mostly for his symphonic and choral writing. Although he once wrote in a letter that "opera is not the medium for our time," (quoted from Hobson & Richardson, cited below), he did write several operas, including two evening-length works.

Hobson & Richardson. Ulysses Kay: A Bio-Bibliography. Greenwood Press 1994.