International opera star Simon Estes is giving his final operatic performance in the Des Moines Metro Opera’s production of “Porgy and Bess,” a show in which he starred in 1985 at New York's Metropolitan Opera House. The production premiered to a sold-out crowd last week. Host Charity Nebbe asks Estes to reflect on his decades on the stage, which have included performances with Johnny Cash and Whitney Houston.
Later in the hour, an excerpt of the IPR podcast From the Archives. This week's episode focuses on a speech at Grinnell College in 1968, in which California U.S. Rep. James Corman presents findings from the Kerner Commission. Corman spoke during a memorial symposium honoring the late civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. The Kerner Commission report found that racism, economic disadvantages, failed social service programs, police brutality and more led to intolerable conditions in Black neighborhoods that erupted in violence across the country.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The DMMO pays to support IPR content
Guest:
- Simon Estes, opera singer
