BLAC
Who We Are
Leadership & Experience:
Meet the individuals behind BLAC.
BLAC is comprised of BIack classical vocal artists and musicians performing and teaching around the world today. All of BLAC's founding Board Members share the singular common goal to uplift, empower and create mentorship, scholarship and performance opportunities for others in their community so that the greater musical arts community may benefit from their enormous gifts and talents.
Read on to meet the Executive Board and our newly-founded Advisory Board.
Executive Board
Kenneth Overton, President
In 2020, Kenneth became a Grammy Award Winner for Best Choral Performance in the title role of Richard Danielpour’s The Passion of Yeshua with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by JoAnn Falletta. In the following season, Kenneth made his Metropolitan Opera debut joining the Grammy Award winning cast of Porgy and Bess. On the operatic stage Kenneth has sung leading roles across the globe including, San Francisco Opera, Welsh National Opera, Royal Danish Opera, L’Opera de Montreal, Opera Carolina, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Palacios Bellas Artes, Bregenzer Festspiele, Nashville Opera and Opera Memphis. On the concert stage Kenneth has been a soloist with The Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, The Sopot Festival in Poland, Lithuanian State Orchestra, The New York Choral Society, The Washington Chorus, The National Philharmonic and the New York Philharmonic in such prestigious Halls as Carnegie Hall, David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center and The Kennedy Center. In addition to performing, Kenneth has branched into film production, and as a clinician and teaching artist at various conservatories, festivals, and schools of music.
Kenneth Kellogg, Vice President
Praised for his "commanding stage presence" and "rich, resonant bass,” Kenneth Kellogg was born and raised in Washington, D.C. He has been named as the inaugural Artist Ambassador at Seattle Opera. He began formal training at the Duke Ellington School of the Performing Arts. Kellogg is an alumnus of the Adler Fellowship Program at San Francisco Opera and the Domingo-Cafritz Emerging Artist Program at Washington National Opera. He trained at the Academy of Vocal Arts and holds degrees from the University of Michigan and Ohio University. While maintaining a busy performance schedule, he is a frequent guest teacher, mentor, and lecturer for music programs throughout the US.
Lawrence Brownlee, Secretary
Lawrence Brownlee is a leading figure in opera, both as a singer on the world's top stages, and as a voice for activism and diversity in the industry. Captivating audiences and critics around the globe, he has been hailed as “an international star in the bel canto operatic repertory” (The New York Times), “one of the world’s leading bel canto stars” (The Guardian), and “one of the most in demand opera singers in the world today” (NPR). With an ever-increasing presence in opera, recitals, and concerts, Lawrence Brownlee has cemented his place as one of the top artists in classical music. He is a regular guest at the world’s most important opera houses including The Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Royal Opera House - Covent Garden, Bayerische Staatsoper, Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Opéra national de Paris, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Teatro Real, Opernhaus Zürich, and Wiener Staatsoper. He is a frequent recitalist and regularly performs at world-renowned recital venues including Carnegie Hall and Wigmore Hall. Mr. Brownlee serves as a Distinguished Visiting Professor for the Vocal Arts Department at the famed Juilliard School of New York City, and is a regular clinician giving masterclasses both in the US and abroad.
Laquita Mitchell, Treasurer
Soprano Laquita Mitchell consistently earns acclaim on eminent international opera and concert stages, leading performances with Los Angeles Opera, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, New York City Opera, Washington National Opera, Opéra Comique in Paris, New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, The Tanglewood Festival, Cleveland Symphony Orchestra and the Cincinnati Orchestra, among many others. Ms. Mitchell is the soprano soloist in the 2021 Grammy- nominated oratorio Sanctuary Road by Paul Moravec and the Oratorio Society of New York. With an active concert and operatic career, Ms. Mitchell is also an educator who holds voice faculty positions at Mannes School of Music and at Brooklyn College CUNY. Ms. Mitchell is a distinguished alumnus of Westminster Choir College and Manhattan School of Music.
Afton Battle, Board Member
Afton Battle is a transformative force in American arts administration, combining her training as a dramatic soprano with an unwavering commitment to equity and community engagement. Battle believes in the power and importance of embodying the change we want to see. As a professional arts administrator and successful fundraiser with 15 years experience in nonprofit management, she has revolutionized how leading arts institutions connect with their communities while raising millions of dollars to fuel artistic excellence. Battle's fundraising acumen has generated millions for premier cultural institutions. Her portfolio spans the New York Theatre Workshop, The Joffrey Ballet, and the National Museum of Mexican Art, where she mastered the art of aligning donor passion with institutional mission. As General and Artistic Director of Fort Worth Opera, Battle launched "The People's Opera"—a groundbreaking initiative that dismantled traditional barriers between classical music and community. Her vision brought celebrated artists of the Global Majority to Fort Worth stages, creating culturally progressive programming that resonated with diverse audiences year-round.
Daniel Billings, Board Member
Daniel D. Billings, DNP, AGPCNP-BC is a board-certified adult-gerontology nurse practitioner specializing in benign hematology at NYU Langone’s Perlmutter Cancer Center, where he provides comprehensive care for patients with non-malignant blood disorders and supports innovative, nurse practitioner–led care models. Dr. Billings’ professional path is uniquely shaped by a distinguished first career in classical music. He began singing as a child with the Boys Choir of Harlem and went on to earn degrees from Boston University and The Juilliard School. As an operatic baritone, he performed with Central City Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, and the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and held a Fest contract with Theater Bielefeld in Germany. He was a Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions semifinalist and received numerous awards in major vocal competitions. After transitioning to nursing, Dr. Billings earned his BSN, MSN, and Doctor of Nursing Practice from Columbia University. He serves in the Columbia University Senate representing alumni, sits on the board of the Columbia Alumni Association, and is a board member of BLAC. A recognized nurse leader and educator, he integrates artistry, leadership, and evidence-based practice to advance patient care and quality of life.
J'Nai Bridges, Board Member
Two-time Grammy® Award-winning American mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges, known for her “plush-voiced mezzo-soprano” (The New York Times), has graced the world’s top opera and concert stages including the Metropolitan Opera, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Dutch National Opera and many more. In 2022 she was announced as one of the Kennedy Center’s NEXT50 cultural leaders. She led a highly successful panel on race and inequality in opera with the Los Angeles Opera that drew international acclaim for being a “conversation of striking scope and candor” (The New York Times). Awards include a 2018 Sphinx Medal of Excellence Award, a 2016 Richard Tucker Career Grant, 1st prize winner at the 2016 Francisco Viñas International Competition, a 2012 Marian Anderson award to name a few. A native of Tacoma, Washington, she completed a three-year residency at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, earned her Master of Music degree from Curtis Institute of Music, and her Bachelor of Music degree from Manhattan School of Music.
Pamela Jones, Board Member
Pamela Jones has sung with opera companies and orchestras in North America, Europe, and Asia. A two-time winner of the National Opera Association’s Legacy Award, she earned her master’s degree in voice performance from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, and is an active member of the Black Administrators of Opera. She also performs and facilitates programs for Explore New York, and the David I. Martin Music Guild, which is a NYC chapter of the National Association of Negro Musicians (NANM). She co-facilitated “OPERA America presents: Blacks in Opera – our Legacy, the Present and the Future” at a recent NANM convention. As the Senior Artist Development Manager at OPERA America, she facilitates discussions among artists, trainers, and artist managers about the industry. She plans programs and builds resources to educate the field and create greater access and representation for all artists.Pamela Jones is a member of the Sphinx Music Organization’s SphinxLEAD program, a graduate of OPERA America’s Leadership Intensive Program, a 2026 New York Foundation for the Arts Emerging Leader, and one of the Musical America’s Top 30 Professionals of the Year for 2025.
Morris Robinson, Board Member
Morris Robinson is considered one the most interesting and sought-after basses performing today. He regularly appears at the Metropolitan Opera, where he is a graduate of the Lindemann Young Artist Program. He debuted there in a production of Fidelio and has since appeared as Sarastro in The Magic Flute (both in the original production and in the children’s English version), Ferrando in Il Trovatore, the King in Aida, and in roles in Nabucco, Tannhäuser, and the new productions of Les Troyens and Salome. He has also appeared at the San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Dallas Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Seattle Opera, LA Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Theater of St. Louis, Teatro alla Scala, Volksoper Wien, Opera Australia, and the Aix-en-Provence Festival. His many roles include the title role in Porgy and Bess, Sarastro in The Magic Flute, Osmin in The Abduction from the Seraglio, Ramfis in Aida, Zaccaria in Nabucco, Sparafucile in Rigoletto, Commendatore in Don Giovanni, Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlo, Timur in Turandot, the Bonze in Madama Butterfly, Padre Guardiano in La Forza del Destino, Ferrando in Il Trovatore, and Fasolt in Das Rheingold.
Kevin Short, Board Member
Bass-baritone Kevin Short has performed with the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Teatro San Carlo, Paris Opéra Comique, Teatro Nacional de Săo Carlos, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Welsh National Opera, Grand Théatre de Luxembourg, Oper der Stadt Köln, Staatstheater Stuttgart, Bregenzer Festspiele, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, and the Savonlinna Festival.
Kevin’s concert work includes performances with the Boston Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Berlin Rundfunkorchester, Hamburg Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, Swiss and Italian RAI Orchestra, Radio France Orchestra, Orchestre de l’Opéra de Marseille, New Japan Philharmonic, Nagano Winter Olympics Orchestra, and the St. Petersburg State Symphony and the Moscow Philharmonic in Russia. Kevin can also be heard on the Pentatone, San Francisco Classics, and Naxos recording labels and teaches voice at the Juilliard School of Music, the University of Maryland and the Curtis Institute of Music.
Advisory Board
Kearstin Piper Brown, Advisory Board Member
Award-winning American soprano Kearstin Piper Brown has been hailed by Variety as “mesmerizing” and by The Wall Street Journal as “eloquent,” captivating audiences around the world with her distinctive artistry, radiant voice, and emotional depth. She has graced leading opera houses and concert stages across the United States and abroad, earning acclaim for her versatility in both classic and contemporary repertoire. In the 2025/26 season, Ms. Brown makes her highly anticipated return to the Metropolitan Opera, covering the role of Bess in Porgy and Bess. She also makes her Utah Opera debut as Wendy Torrance in Mark Campbell and Paul Moravec’s The Shining. Additional engagements include performances with Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity in New York City in Cantata BWV 52, Handel’s Messiah at the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, and Frank Ferko’s Stabat Mater with Cantori New York. She will also debut with the Tulsa Symphony and reprise the role of Poppea in The Comet/Poppea.
Gordon Hawkins, Advisory Board Member
Gordon Hawkins is critically acclaimed throughout the world for his in-depth interpretations and lush baritone voice. A dramatic baritone with an international reputation as a “Rigoletto specialist,” Mr. Hawkins has delighted audiences as the tragic Verdi underdog in more than 200 performances, most recently with the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Vancouver Opera, Washington National Opera, Arizona Opera, and Opera Colorado. He is now earning critical acclaim as a Wagner specialist: “Alberich was superbly realized by baritone Gordon Hawkins, in his [Los Angeles Opera] début. Despite wearing a grotesque puppet head and clunky boots that hobbled his movements, Hawkins delivered a sterling vocal characterization of the power-mad Nibelung.” (Opera News). He has been engaged as Alberich in Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen at esteemed international companies including San Francisco Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Seattle Opera, Washington National Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Teatro de la Maestranza de Sevilla, and the BBC Orchestra at Royal Albert Hall in London.
Cameo Hughes, Advisory Board Member
Tenor Cameo Humes has performed with the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Richmond Symphony, Chicago Philharmonic, Fort Wayne Philharmonic, and the Orchestra Sinfonica dell’International Chamber Ensemble in Italy. His most recent engagements included debuts with the Ear Taxi Festival as tenor soloist in Damien Geter’s An African American Requiem, Lyric Opera of Chicago in the roles of Second Jew in Strauss’ Salome and Mano Alfaro in Terrence Blanchard’s Champion, as well as appearances with Lucerne Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, and Teatro alla Scala in the roles of Peter, Crab Man, Mingo, and Robbins in the Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess. He is a member of Black Administrators of Opera (BAO) and leads ALAANA, a community resource network at Lyric Opera of Chicago in representation of African, Latinx, Asian, Arab and Native American identities. Mr. Humes has taught voice at the University of Illinois Chicago, Central State University, and Lawrence University Conservatory of Music. He currently serves as the Midwestern Region Vice President of the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA) and is a full-time member of the chorus at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Dr. Everett McCorvey, Advisory Board Member
Everett McCorvey is a native of Montgomery, Alabama. He received his degrees from the University of Alabama, including a Doctorate in Musical Arts. He has performed in many cities around the world and theaters across the country, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Kennedy Center, Aspen Music Festival, Radio City Music Hall, Birmingham Opera Theater, Teatro Comunale in Florence, Italy, Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, England, as well as performances throughout Spain, the Czech and Slovak Republics, Austria, Japan, China, Brazil, Ireland, Poland, Portugal and Hungary, Mexico, Peru and France. He joined the Tony Award winning Sherwin Goldman Production of Porgy and Bess at Radio City Music Hall in 1982 and was also part of the Metropolitan Opera’s Debut Production of Porgy and Bess in 1985. McCorvey’s career has spanned all areas of the performing arts business from performer to musical director, stage director, voice teacher, producer, impresario, orchestra conductor, union representative, administrator, and mentor.
McCorvey’s recent conducting activity includes productions with Kentucky Opera, Opera Columbus, Bay View Opera, Virginia Symphony, Virginia Opera, Opera Orlando, and Handel’s Messiah at the newly renovated David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center.
Chauncey Packer, Advisory Board Member
Versatile tenor Chauncey Packer honed his craft in theater and musical theater productions including Baby, The Wizard of Oz, School House Rock Live, and Big River. He performed in Paris’ Louvre Museum in controversial and provocative European choreographer/director Robyn Orlin's Babysitting Petit Louis. In 2013-2014, he was cast in the First National Broadway Tour of The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess as the Honey Man and Sportin’ Life cover. Mr. Packer is featured on several commercial recording releases including Nashville Symphony’s Porgy and Bess on Decca Records and Paragon Ragtime Symphony’s Treemonisha and Black Manhattan Volume 3, both on New World Records. He is featured to critical acclaim in San Francisco Opera’s DVD release of Francesca Zambello’s Porgy and Bess. Most recently Mr. Packer made débuts with Washington National Opera as Sportin’ Life in Porgy and Bess, the New World Symphony in their presentation of Der Kaiser von Atlantis, and returned to Charlotteville Opera for his role début of Don Jose in Carmen. Additionally, he sang the role of Ali in Edmond Dede’s Morgiane in a special presentation with Opera Lafayette in collaboration with OperaCréole and the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra.
Elliott Paige, Advisory Board Member
Tenor and Virginia native, Elliott Paige is an alumnus of the Manhattan School of Music where he received his M.M. in opera performance, and James Madison University where he received a B.M. in vocal performance. Most recently, he performed with White Snake Projects as the titular role in Samiir’s Feast and in the ensemble of the Grammy-nominated recording of X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X with Boston Modern Opera Projects. Within the 2022 season, Mr. Paige performed in other productions of X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X with Opera Omaha, and Detroit Opera and as Anton McCray’s Father in Anthony Davis’s The Central Park Five with Portland Opera. Other previous season highlights include performing as a Steet Person soloist in Bernstein’s MASS at the Kennedy Center, and with On Site Opera in their production of What Lies Beneath. In previous years, Elliott has sung with the Metropolitan Opera in their productions of Der fliegende Holländer and as a soloist in Porgy and Bess. He has been an Apprentice Artist with the Santa Fe Opera, where he sang the role of Parpignol in a new production of La Bohème, and performed as the ‘Quartet Tenor’ in the world premiere of Today It Rains with Opera Parallèle.
Louise Toppin, Advisory Board Member
Louise Toppin, finalist in the Munich International Competition and winner of the Metropolitan Opera regional auditions, has received critical acclaim for her operatic, orchestral, and oratorio performances in the United States, Czech Republic, Scotland, Japan, China, Uruguay, Sweden, the Caribbean, Bermuda, New Zealand, England, and Spain. She has appeared in recital on concert series including Carnegie Hall (Weill Recital Hall), Lincoln Center, Merkin Hall, Licieu Theatre in Barcelona, Spain and the International Albeniz Festival in Camprodon, Spain. Since 1998, Toppin has been the Director of Videmus, growing it from a regional to a national company. Its repertoire focuses on African American, Women and under-presented composers. Videmus has developed a scholarship program and a vocal competition for African American Art Song and Opera in honor of George Shirley. Additionally, Videmus presents concerts for audiences of all ages and produces ground breaking recordings of African American Music.
Cherissia Williams, Advisory Board Member
Born in the island of Trinidad and Tobago, and raised in Brooklyn, New York, soprano Cherissia Williams is a member of the New York Philharmonic Chorus. Notable past credits include ensemble of the world premiere of Handel: Made in America and in the chorus of the world premiere of Émigré with the New York Philharmonic, the First Lady in Once Upon an Opera’s production of The Magic Flute, the Dew Fairy in OUO’s production of Hansel and Gretel, the chorus of Southern Crossings, Sister Constance in the Midwest Institute of Opera’s production of Dialogues of the Carmelites. Ms. Williams has performed as a soloist in major works such as Mozart’s Requiem with Live Arts Maryland, Poulenc’s Gloria, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, and Dubois’ The Last Seven Words of Christ. In addition to her singing career, Ms. Williams serves as a Radio & Broadcast Licensing Key Account Manager for the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and previously held the position of Director of Amateur Licensing for Broadway Licensing. Ms. Williams is the identical twin sister of soprano, Dr. Cherisse Williams. She holds a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance from Westminster Choir College and a Professional Studies Certificate & Master’s degree from The Manhattan School of Music.