Opera Columbus eager to perform for live audience
Since being named the new Opera Columbus General Director and CEO in January, Julia Noulin-merat has had one big task before her: finding a way for the company to make good on a pair of live, in-person performances announced last summer.
In August, the company revealed plans to perform two classic operas in what it hoped would be a post-pandemic performing-arts scene: Puccini’s “La Boheme” was scheduled for February and Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” for April 30 and May 2.
As the pandemic worsened and lengthened, however, those plans had to be modified.
“From my first day I started, we’ve been talking about what that would look like and how that would work,” said Noulin-merat, a 39-year-old native of Montreal.
Opera Columbus announced last week that “Don Giovanni” will still be performed on its original dates, but at
COSI Columbus rather than, as originally planned, the Southern Theatre. Meanwhile, “La Boheme,” still set to be performed at its previously announced venue, 400 West Rich, an arts space in Franklinton, has been bumped to late May. Both operas, which round out the company’s 2020-21 season, have been boiled down to 90 minutes so that they can be performed without intermissions.
The pivots reflected the new arts leader’s determination that the shows must go on — even in modified form.
“For me, it was very important that we have productions — not just as an arts organization but for the city of Columbus,” Noulin-merat said. “A lot of our colleagues are looking at virtual presentations, or changing either what the format is or even the programming ... but it was very important for us to experience music together.”
In January, Opera Columbus presented a previously recorded concert with bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green, but apart from that virtual presentation, it has not presented a public performance since last February, when “The Barber of Seville” was performed in the Southern Theatre.
Featuring 26 musicians from the Promusica Chamber Orchestra and 12 members of the Columbus Gay Men’s Chorus in addition to eight vocal soloists, “Don Giovanni” is among the most ambitious pandemic-era offerings from any central Ohio performing-arts organization.
To enable the soloists to sing without masks, each will inhabit his or her own vinyl tower while performing — a health choice first but also a fitting artistic decision, Noulin-merat said, given that the opera revolves around Don Juan, an amoral rogue who, eventually, makes his way to Hell.
“Those towers are four-by-four feet,” Noulin-merat said. “To me, that’s a form of Hell, if you will, so that kind of fits beautifully with ‘Don Giovanni.’”
Baritone Jorell Williams will perform the lead role in the opera.
“La Boheme” will be performed May 20-23 and May 28 and 30 at 400 West Rich, a space appropriate not just for a socially distanced performance but also in keeping with the opera’s plot line, which portrays a cadre of bohemian artists; 10 singers will be distanced and some will be wearing masks. The company is exploring live-streaming one of the performances.
“People who still don’t feel comfortable coming to see a live performance still get to enjoy an Opera Columbus performance, but live with an audience that will also be with us,” Noulinmerat said.
Audiences who have not attended a live opera since the company’s last outing will encounter some changes, many of them commonplace during the pandemic. Both upcoming shows will feature capacity limitations: “Don Giovanni” is restricted to 140 audience members and “La Boheme” to 120 audience members.
Patrons, who will have their temperatures checked when they arrive, must wear a mask, but the company will furnish all in attendance with an additional mask to either replace inadequate masks or allow for doublemasking.
“We are asking everyone to be wearing our mask,” Noulin-merat said. “Then we know that everyone else will be safe.”
Noulin-merat is looking forward to planning a fall season — hopefully to be announced in spring — with fewer restrictions.
“I’m looking forward to grand opera with a large chorus,” she said.
In the meantime, though, Opera Columbus is ready to sing for its city once again.
“It’s been a year since ‘Barber,’” Noulin-merat said. “We want to do it right, we want to do it safe and we want to do it beautifully.”
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