But his foray into opera, “Afterword: An Opera in Two Acts,” is less traditionally dramatic. In the liner notes for this finely produced live recording, Lewis — a scholar, computer music specialist and trombonist — talks about the conceptual influence of Anthony Braxton’s operas. In those works, singers are not bound to representations of a single character from one act to the next. Lewis, a veteran of the artistic network, wrote a celebrated historical tome on the organization, and his libretto for “Afterword” freely adapts that text. And it does flourish, among the trio of vocal soloists, most prominently in an extraordinary performance by the contralto Gwendolyn Brown.

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Persons: George Lewis’s, Lewis —, —, Anthony Braxton’s, Lewis, Gwendolyn Brown, SETH COLTER Organizations: Association for, Advancement of Creative Musicians