For more than 90 years, Porgy and Bess and its songs, such as “Summertime,” have resonated deeply with audiences. This celebrated American opera tells the fictional story of a Black community in Charleston, South Carolina, in the early 1920s.

The beloved opera has also raised questions about who creates art, how people are represented, and what impact it leaves behind.

Before you see Porgy and Bess at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, join Lyric Opera of Kansas City for a discussion of these topics and enjoy a live performance.

Panelists include the production’s conductor Michael Ellis Ingram, the chief conductor of the Staatsoperette Dresden; Howard Pollack, professor of music at the University of Houston and author of an award-winning biography of George Gershwin; and Paul Laird, professor emeritus of musicology at the University of Kansas and a noted musical theater scholar, as moderator of the conversation.

Presented by Lyric Opera of Kansas City.