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Episode details

World Service,3 mins

No More ‘Blackface’ for Otello in NYC

Boston Calling

Available for over a year

New York’s famed Metropolitan Opera has announced that its Otello tenor will no longer wear traditional "blackface" style makeup. This move marks an historic break with an operatic tradition of more than a century. African-American mezzo-soprano Carolyn Sebron shares her reaction to the news with Marco Werman. Image: Latvian tenor Aleksandrs Antonenko as Otello in a 2008 performance at the Salzburg Festival. Antonenko will be singing the title role in the upcoming production at New York’s Metropolitan Opera. Credit: Getty Images

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