- The Dessoff Choirs, Malcolm J. Merriweather, Janinah Burnett, Dashon Burton: “Margaret Bonds: ‘Credo,’ ‘Simon Bore the Cross’” (Avie)
- Mivos Quartet: “Steve Reich: The String Quartets” (Deutsche Grammophon)
Early on in “The Factotum,” Will Liverman and K-Rico’s setting of “Il barbiere di Siviglia” in a Black barber shop, Liverman’s Figaro-ish character, Mike, sings about the legacy of carrying on the barber shop he inherited from his father. When Lyric Opera of Chicago shared a sneak peek of “The Factotum” in 2021, it included a clip of “Legacy,” and I asked Liverman about the relationship of that word to the larger themes of the opera. “It is exactly that,” he said. “Especially being people of color, it’s thinking about our legacies. And our family—that’s what it’s really about. Your family sets that foundation.…we’re building that foundation that was taken away from us from the start, and creating something finally where we can look back 400 years from now, and hopefully we have created a better world.”