The premise of Opera Helps, a project by artist Joshua Sofaer, is simple: people apply with a problem and if the project can meet their needs, a professional opera singer will be visit them in their home to listen to what’s troubling them.
Whether specific or more general – ‘Are you lovesick or facing divorce? Has your partner stopped listening to you? Do your children disrespect you?’ asks the Opera Helps website – the singer will then select the aria they feel best relates to the problem. This will then be sung as the participant relaxes at home in their preferred room. Performances last about 30 minutes.
Opera Helps first took place in 2012 in Stockholm, Sweden, after Sofaer was invited to work with the small opera house Folkoperan. For 2016 the project tours the UK with event producers Wunderbar. The first performances are taking place in Tyne and Wear (17 & 19-20 March).
“Historically, opera was always a popular art form,” says Sofaer. “Even 50 years ago hairdressers in Italy would sing arias as they worked. Yet now it is seen as something highbrow, for the rich and highly educated, inaccessible to most people.”
By relocating opera to the home and relating it to personal problems, people are introduced to the music who wouldn’t otherwise have given it a chance. The power of the voice in the domestic space creates an intense and moving experience; the participant hears music in an unfamiliar way, encouraging them to listen attentively as they reflect on their problem.
“Although the problem is the reason for meeting,” continues Sofaer, “paradoxically what people really focus on is the music. People listen to the music more acutely because they feel uniquely addressed. Ultimately, it’s about the potential of art and music in our lives.”
From April 2016 further Opera Helps performances will take place in Durham (1-2 April), Northumberland (15-16 April), Teeside (29-30 April), St Helens (20-24 April), Colchester (6-8 May) and Norfolk and Norwich (13-22 May).
The project has been developed in partnership with Heart of Glass in St Helens, Colchester Arts Centre and Norfolk & Norwich Festival. Sofaer and Wunderbar worked with OperaCoast to recruit the singers.
“To listen to music, chosen specifically for you, just a few feet away, is a powerful experience,” says one unattributed Opera Helps participant on the project’s website. “After two bars, I weep. When the aria is over, life feels renewed.”
Applications are still open for Opera Helps in Norfolk and Norwich and for further performances in Tyne and Wear.
www.operahelps.com
