Much better late than never! The new grand opera Shell Shaker, by Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate, classical composer and citizen of the Chickasaw Nation, was originally announced for March 2022. By ancestry, upbringing, and education, Tate is what you might call culturally bilingual, as much a “native speaker” in Eurocentric traditions as he is in those of American Indians. His heroine is a girl named Loksi’, which means “turtle,” and her great deed is to bring the rhythmic art of shell-shaking to the stomp dances of the Chickasaw people. Says Tate: “It’s right in line with operas by Puccini, Mozart, and Wagner.” (Gee, I hope not.) Presented by the Mount Holyoke Symphony Orchestra in partnership with the Five College Native American and Indian Studies Program and the Mellon Foundation. —Matthew Gurewitsch