Detroit Opera has opened its 2025-’26 season with a double bill titled “Highways & Valleys — Two American Love Stories.” The production features operas by two composers: William Grant Still and Kurt Weill. Both operas focus on working people living at America’s margins. Weill’s work is named “Down in the Valley,” and Still’s is titled “Highway 1, USA.” 

Host Stephen Henderson talks with William Grant Still’s granddaughter, Celeste Headlee, about Still’s opera and how he became known as the “dean of African American composers.”  Headlee discusses her personal relationship with her grandfather and explains how “Highway 1, USA” reflects Black life in the 1940s when he composed the opera. She also discusses Weill’s work and how the two operas complement each other.