Pulitzer Prize-Winning ‘The Central Park Five’ Opens at Detroit Opera
By Ryan Patrick Hooper. May 8, 2025. Photograph by Christine Dong, Portland Opera
In this opera about the wrongful conviction of the accused assailants of a jogger in Central Park in 1989 composer Anthony Davis blends his appreciation for hip-hop, jazz, and blues into an opera format. It is the world premiere of Davis’ expanded orchestration of the opera, which Detroit Opera commissioned for the Detroit performances.
Composer Anthony Davis is making a major return to Detroit this weekend with his Pulitzer Prize-winning opera The Central Park Five. The two-act true-story adaptation follows the wrongful convictions of five African American and Latino teenagers accused of assaulting a white female jogger in Central Park in 1989.
The case gripped the nation at the time and still appears in headlines today, primarily because of the involvement of President Donald Trump, who became an outspoken voice in favor of convicting the accused teens.