SHIRLEY VERRETT (soprano) has been acclaimed for her starring roles at the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Bolshoi Opera, the Paris Opera, the San Francisco Opera, the Vienna Staatsoper, and the Lyric Opera of Chicago, among others. She is the James Earl Jones Distinguished University Professor of Music at the University of Michigan.

CHRISTOPHER BROOKS, who collaborated with Ms. Verrett, is Associate Professor of African American studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. A biographer, he holds a doctorate in anthropology/ethnomusicology from the University of Texas at Austin.