Tifara Brown
Poet, Author, Librettist, Storyteller
Tifara Brown is a performance poet, oral historian, published author, activist, and organizational culture strategist with roots in Southern Georgia. She is the founder of Honeysuckle Poetry LLC and Creative Director of Honeysuckle Studios — a creative direction and organizational culture practice whose work sits at the intersection of art, ancestral memory, and institutional transformation.
Tifara began her relationship with storytelling and performance before she had language for it. She shared her first stories in front of her home church congregation and performed at school assemblies at age 9. By 12, she was competing as a performance poet and saxophonist, winning regional and state awards and composing original jazz and spoken word pieces. She recorded a saxophone album and made radio and television appearances with her family's band, and became her church's pianist at 15. These early formations — music, congregation, public witness —remain the bedrock of her practice.
“lalovavi” premier
July 9 & 11, 2026 | 7:30 PM
Music Hall • springer auditorium
Music by Kevin Day
Libretto by Tifara Brown
Sung in English and Tut* with projected English lyrics and translation
LOVE’S beacon shall shine bright.
Set 400 years into the future, Lalovavi (lah-low-VAH-vee) is an Afrofuturist adventure that follows Persephone, the youngest daughter of the ruler of Atlas, the city formerly known as Atlanta. Currency and status in Atlas are determined based on the presence of Syndica, a gene that promotes vitality and longevity. When Persephone is found to possess a version of Syndica that confers immortality, she is betrayed by her family and must run for her life. She is thrust into an epic journey, uncovering a hidden past that leads her to discover love’s true meaning and the power to determine her destiny.
Premier of “Lalovavi” Review
“Last week, Cincinnati Opera gave the world premiere of “Lalovavi,” the first entry of its Black Opera Project. Over three years, this $6 million commissioning and production effort, sparked in 2019 by bass and company artistic adviser Morris Robinson, will feature three new pieces by black creative teams that focus on “the richness and complexity of the black American experience.”
“Lalovavi,” a first opera for both composer Kevin Day and librettist Tifara Brown, is an Afrofuturist fantasy with nods to the “Black Panther” movies. Its story also suggests “The Magic Flute” in reverse: A totalitarian patriarchal society is overthrown by a matriarchal band of outcasts grounded in love and the natural world; the young heroine, Persephone, defies her father and finds her true roots.”
NPR Interview
By Tana Weingartner
Opera has historically been dominated by white composers. More Black artists are being recognized now, but stories that center Black characters still often fail to gain traction with both performing companies and audiences. This summer, the nation's second oldest opera company is trying to change that with the Black Opera Project. From member station WVXU in Cincinnati, Tana Weingartner reports.
CET Interview
By The Art Show - ThinkTV and CET
“Lalovavi,” the first of three commissions in the Cincinnati Opera’s Black Opera Project, transports audiences 400 years into the future. Ahead of its summer 2026 premiere, let's hear from the creative minds who are bringing this spectacular story to life.
More reviews
By Lynn Meisberger
“The Cincinnati Opera’s summer festival continues with the world premiere of the Afrofuturistic opera Lalovavi by Kevin Day and Tifara Brown, the first work in the Cincinnati opera’s three-part Black Opera Project. Inspired by mythology, dystopian world building and Black and Indigenous American heritage, the libretto by Brown is strong and sometimes amusing using English and the Tutnese secret language, developed by enslaved African Americans. The music by Kevin Day is mostly atonal, sometimes melodic, always with sumptuous harmonies. The outstanding performances by the cast, Cincinnati Symphony, the lush sets and costumes and an enthusiastic audience make for a thrilling evening.”
“In February 2024, Cincinnati Opera announced the launch of its substantial new Black Opera Project, a commissioning initiative designed to engage Black composers, librettists, and directors. The project's purpose was to commission three new operas celebrating Black stories.
The first of those operas, Lalovavi, is a collaboration between composer Kevin Day and librettist Tifara Brown. An Afrofuturist opera, the work is set 400 years in the future, and follows the story of Persephone, the youngest daughter of the ruler of Atlas, the city formerly known as Atlanta. When Persephone is found to possess a gene that confers immortality, she is betrayed by her family and must run for her life.”
By Anne Arenstein
Lalovavi, an Afrofuturist opera by Kevin Day and libretto by Tifara Brown, makes its world premiere this week.
Lalovavi, premiering July 9, is the first of three operas commissioned by the Cincinnati Opera’s Black Opera Project.
The audience finds Lalovavi 400 years in the future in Atlas, once known as Atlanta, controlled by the dictator Titan. His daughter, Persephone, escapes her father’s sinister plans for her future and encounters the Nunewak society outside Atlas, a culture attuned to nature with its own language.
by: David Lyman
“Morris Robinson was frustrated.
Robinson, a bass whose presence has illuminated several Cincinnati Opera productions and, since 2017, has been an artistic adviser to the company, had just completed a rehearsal for the 2019 production of “Porgy and Bess.” He wasn’t complaining about the show itself. He had the lead role of Porgy, a role he had triumphed with three years earlier at La Scala in Milan.
No, Robinson’s frustration was about something much more profound than a single production.
“I realized that for my son and his friends, this was going to be their introduction to opera,” said Robinson. “In the first 10 minutes, we see drug-dealing, murder and prostitution.”
comic book prequel “Rise of Titan”
Contact
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Karen Cubides (305)-970-1132
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