A year ago, New Orleans-born 19th century composer Edmond Dédé was the star of the annual Musical Louisiana: America’s Cultural Heritage concert, a collaboration between the Historic New Orleans Collection and the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra.
This year, Dédé is essentially a member of the ensemble.
The 2025 Musical Louisiana concert at the St. Louis Cathedral premiered selections from Dédé’s opera “Morgiane,” which was written 1887 but never performed until 138 years later. That “Morgiane” was likely the first complete opera written by a Black American composer — and that it was “lost” for more than a century — generated a dramatic narrative beyond the music itself…