There are artists who make work, and then there are artists who make history. avery r. young sits firmly in the second category. Born and raised on the west side of Chicago, Young has spent 30 years investing in his city as a poet, educator and cultural force, and the city has returned the investment in full. Named Chicago’s first poet laureate, he is now stepping onto an entirely new stage as the librettist, composer and star of Safronia, an Afro-surrealist opera premiering at the Lyric Opera of Chicago on April 17 and 18, 2026. The production tells the story of a Black family’s journey from Mississippi to Chicago during the Great Migration, set to a score woven from gospel, blues, funk, soul and hip-hop. With a 51-piece orchestra on stage, blues legend Billy Branch on harmonica and thousands of tickets already sold out, Safronia is shaping up to be one of the most significant American opera premieres in recent memory. avery r. young sat down to talk about why this story needed to be told, what it means to bring it home to Chicago and why opera was always meant for the people.
What inspired the creation of Safronia and the story of the Booker family?
The Booker family was the first inspiration. But then I really wanted to explore the idea of the Great Migration as a story that I didn’t see told through opera, and so that was the biggest inspiration. How could I write an opera that would basically honor the millions of people who traveled from the South to various parts of this country in hopes for a better life, safety, and so on? That was really the inspiration. How could I tell an American tale and a Chicago tale at the same time in opera? The inspiration was also the challenge in doing that, and just the idea of putting that story in the American opera lexicon.
Why was it important to tell this specific story?
I didn’t see this story being told in new works that centered the Black experience in opera, and I wouldn’t want to tell a story that’s already been told. Two, the migration, or the Great Migration, changed and created ecosystems that we still use to this day. We used the Green Book to be redlined. But that reality sparked a culture of music, art and entrepreneurship, because Black people had to build things for themselves. We often say FUBU, for us by us, but I also say FUWU, for us, with us. That is the ecosystem that was established.
You describe Safronia as Afro-surrealist. What does that mean in the context of this production?
Afro-surrealist means the story is not linear, it’s not told in any kind of chronological order, and surrealist in the sense that even though the story is rooted in the past, there are elements of it that feel like now. My great-grandfather had to cross the street when a white man was walking down the sidewalk in Mississippi. I’ve never had to do that, but I have walked past a car with a white woman and a white man and heard the door lock. I’m running for the bus, and you lock your car door. Things have changed, but not necessarily progressed. Or the opposite: things have progressed, but not necessarily changed. That is what makes the experience a surreal experience.
You are Chicago’s first poet laureate. How did that influence this piece?
When I first was named poet laureate, I talked to the poet laureate of Illinois at the time, Mama Angela Jackson, and I asked if she felt the pressure of writing better because of the title. She said you must. So I went back and did super sharp revisions and edits to make it a really solid piece that would have its own legs and arms, whether or not I was performing in it or not. The piece has to live on stage, but also on page. That is the difference between me and a librettist that is not traditionally a poet, because a librettist uses dialogue to tell the story, but I use dialogue to paint the story. The pressure was to write something that people would leave with some notion that this is actually poetry they are experiencing in this opera.
The music blends gospel, blues, funk and soul. How did you approach that?
I was thinking about the world of this family and what was playing in the house when I was growing up, which was gospel, blues, funk and soul. This is also the music that Black folks brought up to the North during the migration. Funk is in Cleveland, the blues is Chicago, gospel is Detroit. All of that was what those migrants brought up with them from the South, and they were able to add a rocket to it, which became hip-hop in New York. Those children of migrants were able to plug into those instruments and create what we now understand to be the American songbook. You cannot really think classical music is just Puccini or Mozart. You have to add Simone, Mayfield and Joplin. KRS-One is a librettist. What a hip-hop producer is doing is scoring. They are putting music underneath a story, and that is what scoring is.
How important is it for institutions like the Lyric Opera of Chicago to reflect stories rooted in Black history and culture?
It is important for them to understand that this country is a rainbow of folks who have stories they can tell in the means in which they communicate to people. Opera is not going to be sustainable if it is only older rich white folks going to it. The 20-year-olds are at the Kendrick Lamar concert. Somehow, what Rick, Jamila and others are doing has to find its way to the lyric. That opportunity needs to be opened up to more folks. The most important thing with me and this opera is that I, as an African-American man, am telling the African-American story through an African-American lens. It is kind of hard to write the story of a person’s feet when you cannot fit their shoes. Opera is always for the people. Italian operas are written in Italian because Italian composers were speaking to other Italians. Same thing with the French, and the same thing I decided to do with Safronia. As a Black person, I am going to talk to other Black people, so I am going to use the language Black people use to talk to each other.
What does this moment mean for you personally, bringing this work to the stage in Chicago?
I am so glad to do it in the crib, because a lot of folks walk away from this city because they do not feel the city’s love. I cannot say that right now. I am on too many billboards, I am on too many news shows, I am in too many different interviews. The city loves me. I have put in a lot of cultural investment and engagement and talked to young people for 30 years. These are supposed to be the ones buying the tickets. People I met when they were in seventh grade are telling me they are coming, and their mamas are coming too. I put into the city, so it is like, I love the city and the city loves me. I am properly born and raised on the west side of Chicago, and it feels stupendous, as Biggie would say.
What do you want audiences to feel during and after Safronia?
During Safronia, I want their bodies activated with the music. When they leave, I want them to have a melody in their head. I want people to understand, especially if you are coming in as a student, that poetry does not just have to be on the page or at the slam. This is a full-fledged, epic poem playing out on the opera stage. I hope people feel what I wanted my great-grandfather to feel when he came to Chicago: I could do something here. That is what I want people to think. What you want to do, you can actually get it done.
What can you tell us about the production itself?
The orchestra is going to be on the stage instead of in the pit. Billy Branch is going to be playing harmonica, and he is a blues legend. Otis Rogers Jr., who was Curtis Mayfield’s musical director, is one of the musicians. It is a 51-piece orchestra, and we are really working out the way in which the orchestra is in support of the Deacon Board so that the Deacon Board is not lost. There is nothing happening in the world on April 17 and 18 that you want to see outside of this, because there is nothing like it. This is a love letter to the great migrants, the folks who traveled, and the folks who stayed. Not everybody who came to Chicago or up to the northern cities came of their own free will. This family, as you will see in the opera, is banished from where they came. They leave because it is a matter of life or death.
Rapid fire
One word to describe Safronia.
Both.
Favorite musical influence in the show?
Baba Curtis.
Chicago means what to you?
Home.
Creative process in one word?
Cooking.
What is next?
Another opera. I like it here.
One word to describe Avery.
Blessed.
How can people find out more about Safronia?
Go to lyricopera.org. Right now it is all things Safronia, Madame Butterfly and Frida and Diego. Hit the link that says Safronia and get your seats, because they are going fast. The main floor on both nights is nearly sold out, with only about five to ten seats left in those sections. First balcony is a very good seat either way, and this is a show you are going to feel from every seat.