'Champion' about tragic boxer Emile Griffith blows New York’s Met away

Before we meet just a few of those responsible for staging this groundbreaking production we’ll take a look at the inspiration for this major modern work.

Every great opera requires a gripping story and at the heart of opera 'Champion', the first one written by the six-time Grammy Award-winning composer Terence Blanchard, lies the true and tragic tale of one of the greatest boxers of all time.

The subject of this story is Emile Griffith, a boxer from the U.S. Virgin Islands who arrived in New York in the 1950s. Griffith harboured a secret, he was living a double life as a bisexual man.

In 1962 Griffith was seeking to recapture the crown he had once taken from fellow fighter Benny “Kid” Paret and then lost back to him. Paret then discovers Griffith’s secret and whispers homophobic slurs to him before the fight.

While they are in the ring one of the great tragedies in sports history unfolds. In the 12th round, Griffith delivers seventeen head punches in five seconds and knocks Paret into a coma from which he will not recover. Ten days later he dies.

“I pray to God, I say from my heart, he’s all right.” Griffith was quoted as saying in the dressing room afterward.

Following the tragedy, Griffith was haunted by guilt for the rest of his life and it’s this tragic story that inspired the composer to write the opera.

Blanchard has been described as one of the great voices in contemporary American music and has also composed scores for the iconic filmmaker Spike Lee.

"At the core of the story, to me, it's about two things. It's about redemption and forgiveness and the forgiveness part is forgiving yourself.” Says Blanchard.

“In this piece, you're going to hear a lot of different things. You know, we call it the opera in jazz, because,