Director of IDEA Initiatives and Community Engagement with the Pittsburgh Opera, Rebekah Diaz, spoke with Jim Cunningham in this Voice of the Arts Gospel podcast about two upcoming events at the Pittsburgh Opera. The first event is a collaboration with the Afro-American Music Institute.

Opera Meets Jazz, is Friday, April 5th at 7 pm at the St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church in Homewood. Diaz highlights the Pittsburgh Resident Artists that will be performing, and members from the AAMI that will combine opera arias with jazz.

Rebekah also discusses a second event, Sharing Experiences of Black Creatives, Sunday, April 14th at 2 pm at the Bitz Opera Factory. This free panel discussion of Black creatives in Pittsburgh will share their own experiences working in the arts. Rebekah highlights how both events tie into the last opera of the season, The Passion of Mary Cardwell Dawson, an opera about the pioneering African American woman who created the National Negro Opera Company in Pittsburgh during the 1940s. Jim also asks Rebekah about her work at the Opera and how diversity and inclusion efforts are central to uplifting and sharing stories. These events and interview are part of WQED's Gospel programming that highlights local concerts in the Western Pennsylvania area.

Visit https://www.wqed.org/gospel to see the full list of events and watch Henry Louis Gates Jr's Gospel series on WQED.

Subscribe FREE to WQED's YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/WQEDYouTube

Connect with WQED:
► Web: https://www.wqed.org
► Facebook:   / wqedpittsburgh  
► Instagram:   / wqed  
► Twitter:   / wqed