NBC 5 is celebrating Black History Month with six-time Grammy Award winning composer and trumpeter, Terence Blanchard.
NBC 5 is celebrating Black History Month with seven-time Grammy Award winning composer and trumpeter, Terence Blanchard. His most recent win came at the 2023 Grammy Awards for Best Opera Recording forBlanchard, who has also been a two-time Oscar nominee, became the first Black composer to have their work staged at New York’s Metropolitan Opera in the company’s 138-year history in the 2021-2022 season. That opera, Fire Shut Up in My Bones, made its first premiere in 2019 in St. Louis.
“I may be the first, but I can’t be the last,” Blanchard said in an interview with NBC 5 ahead of his appearance at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. “This has to be a turnkey and not a token to open up the doors for others.” Even before his history-making composition, Blanchard had been celebrated for his work with the likes of Mariah Carey, Viola Davis’ “The Woman King”, the recent remake of “Father of the Bride”, and a hand full of Spike Lee movies in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s.Blanchard credited much of his success to what happened for him when he was young.
"It makes me feel like I have been blessed to have great teachers. There have been a lot of people of color in my life who have shepherded me who deserves a lot of credit because they are the one that have opened my eyes and making me believe I can do these things. I always tell people.
That’s much of the reason Blanchard said he is excited about his visit to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra as part of their upcoming speaker series. He said their continued work in communities of color, which dates back 30 years, proves investing in youth music programs is an investment in the future.