Houston Grand Opera (HGO) will stage the fifth annual Giving Voice concert in partnership with Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church (WABC). The concert will be presented at the historic Third Ward church for the second year running.

This year the Giving Voice concert series, created in 2019 by American tenor Lawrence Brownlee, will highlight the artistry and contributions of Black women in opera and the Houston community. The event, to be held on International Women’s Day, will also mark Women’s History Month, celebrated throughout March.

Hosted by ABC13 journalist and WABC congregant Melanie Lawson, Giving Voice will feature arias and songs sung by operatic soloists including incredible Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano and HGO honoree Marietta Simpson; Grammy Award-winning soprano Latonia Moore; tenor Limmie Pulliam; baritone Justin Austin; and two current members of HGO’s Butler Studio, soprano Renée Richardson and tenor Demetrious Sampson, Jr.

The concert will feature choral works by a mass choir of singers from WABC, the Houston Ebony Opera Guild, and HGO, as well as a special performance from Houston’s emerging spiritual ensemble, Voices of Houston. It will also bring the world premiere of songs by HGO Composer in Residence Joel Thompson. WABC will be honoring its First Lady Audrey Cosby, Founding First Lady Audrey Lawson, First Female Minister of Music Juanita Nash, and several of the Charter Members.