Opera Vermont at the Chandler center for the arts Presents

a bayou legend

William Grant still’s

with libretto by the composer’s wife and frequent collaborator, Verna Arvey

November 14 & 15, 2025

“A tale of unrequited love, revenge, and eternal trancendence.”

Set in a village in the bayou of mississippi, a bayou legend focuses on the deadly revenge that Clothilde enacts on Bazile who does not return her expressions of love. When Clothilde discovers that Bazile has been in communication with Aurore, a spirit of the bayou, who identifies herself as Bazile's lover from a former life, Clothilde threatens to have Bazile arrested for violating local religious customs. When Bazile continues to refuse to wed Clothilde, she arranges for an angry mob to have him lynched.

In his death throes, however, Bazile's soul is at last united with Aurore, showing that love transcends time and space, while Clothilde lives out the remainder of her years as a bitter recluse.

This beautiful, lyrical, emotional piece examines the human condition as it grapples with both earthly and celestial concepts, as well as probing the nature of how far we are willing to go to achieve our desired result - and the consequences of those actions.

This production at the chandler center for the arts marks the first time that a black composer’s operatic work will be performed within the state of vermont. In addition, this piece will be performed by a cast of world-class bipoc artists, both vocally and orchestrally.

Opera Vermont is thrilled to introduce the state and region to this beautiful work, while at the same time furthering our mission of representation and inclusion in the operatic art form, by presenting works from under-represented voices to the Vermont audience.

Cast and Production crew TBD