Tifara Brown

Tifara Brown is a TEDx speaker, performance poet, oral historian, and culture strategist whose work transforms storytelling into a tool for imagination, leadership, and organizational change. As the founder and Creative Director of Honeysuckle Poetry LLC in Savannah, Georgia, she developed Imagination as Infrastructure©, a facilitation approach rooted in research on psychological safety and inclusive leadership—bridging art, education, and institutional transformation.

 

Across more than two decades, Brown has brought her story-driven practice into strikingly diverse spaces, from incarcerated youth programs and community organizations to international military commands and Fortune 500 company C-suites. Her work has reached more than half a million people through live performance, broadcast, and media, consistently centering narrative as a catalyst for connection, reflection, and change.

 

As a widely published poet and author of Honeysuckle: Poems and Stories from a Black Southerner, she continues to expand her literary voice into large-scale storytelling worlds. She is the librettist of Lalovavi, the original Afrofuturist opera premiering with Cincinnati Opera in Summer 2026, and the writer of Rise of Titan, the graphic novel prequel that expands the opera’s universe. Through both works, she builds immersive narratives that merge myth, futurism, and human resilience.

G. Thomas Allen

G. Thomas Allen is an award-winning countertenor, jazz vocalist, educator, author, and Associate Professor of Voice at Berklee College of Music. Renowned for bridging the worlds of opera, jazz, and gospel, he has performed at leading venues including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, and the BBC Proms, while collaborating on Grammy-nominated recordings and chart-topping jazz projects. A trailblazing artist, Allen was part of the first trio of African American countertenors to appear together in an opera production and continues to redefine the possibilities of his rare vocal category through performance, teaching, and scholarship.

Donald Lee III

Donald Lee III is an American conductor and pianist recognized for his versatility on the podium and at the keyboard. A graduate of James Madison University and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, he has worked with leading organizations including Lyric Opera of Chicago, Des Moines Metro Opera, Cincinnati Opera, and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. An advocate for new works and underrepresented composers, Lee has collaborated with renowned artists such as Lawrence Brownlee, Will Liverman, and Key'mon Murrah, while championing innovative opera and concert repertoire.

Kevin Miller

Kevin J. Miller is a Grammy-nominated American pianist and collaborative artist renowned for his expressive performances and work with some of the world's leading vocalists, including Lawrence Brownlee, Nadine Sierra, John Holiday, and Jessye Norman. A graduate of Mannes College of Music and the University of Michigan, he has served on the music staff of major opera companies across the United States, including The Metropolitan Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Washington National Opera, LA Opera, and Cincinnati Opera. His artistry can be heard on acclaimed recordings such as Rising and Been in da Storm So Long.