TAKING THE OPERATUNITY
The twin concepts of music and elder care are back in business after Covid-19.
During Level Four, happiness was delivered in half hour slots. Happiness sounded like Frank Sinatra, South Pacific, 1950s rock’n’roll – and it offered New Zealand’s elderly a 30-minute reprieve from the spectre of Covid 19.
Operatunity, a New Zealand-owned and operated company specialising in music for seniors, created the Happiness Half Hour in response to the fear and uncertainty posed by the pandemic. Twice a week from the beginning of lockdown, their YouTube channel featured variety-show style entertainment plucked from their concerts, plus live streams of their artists in action.
The channel quickly clocked up 100,000 views while the country was shut down – and now, from early July, Operatunity will be once again plying their merry trade in theatres and community centres in our reopened nation.
Operatunity was created 19 years ago by professional soprano Susan Boland and her tenor husband John Cameron. Boland has over 30 years’ experience as a singer, having performed as a soloist with the likes of New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Prior to this, she worked as a charge nurse, with a specialty in geriatric care.
It’s the twin poles of singing and elder care that underpinned the creation of Operatunity. As a nurse, Boland became aware of the need for professional musical entertainment for older people – entertainment that wasn’t condescending and which respected seniors’ intelligence.
She also had a burning desire to support New Zealand’s underemployed but abundantly talented musicians.
The company she and her husband created has been a success on both counts. Heading into its second decade, over 65,000 people attend Operatunity concerts each year – and it’s the leading employer of musical artists in New Zealand.
“We have up to 40 part-time and full-time artists we work with regularly,” says Boland. “Some of our fulltime employees work in the office as well. These are incredibly talented musicians but there is no prima donna stuff. At shows, they will be up on stage, then handing out sandwiches to the audience at the lunch afterwards.”
In 2006, Operatunity launched another arm of its business, musical travel.
New Zealand musicians led groups to far-flung locales (Russia, Ireland, Vanuatu) to soak up the local sounds. It was an instant success. Boland says many of the travellers are widows, who worried they would never travel again after the death of their husbands. It opened up the world again.
But that was before Covid 19: “As a live music and travel company targeted at seniors, Covid 19 was a perfect storm for us,” she says.
As seniors are their speciality, Operatunity took no chances. They acted early, cancelling a tour to Australia weeks before lockdown.
“There were three components to our ethos around Covid 19 – care for our customers and staff; integrity around money paid to us already; and transparency around all our decisionmaking.”
When lockdown occurred, they decided to reach out. “Operatunity Happiness Half Hour” was part of it but they also used their time at home to check up on 5000 of their customers by phone.
“These people are like family to us. Many of the older people who come to our shows or travel with us live alone, so we wanted to make sure they were okay.”
With the country now in Level One, Operatunity will hit the road again. Their Stage and Screen tour commences in early July, and they will use this as an opportunity to help seniors to connect with those in need.
“Often, older people are seen as weak, irrelevant. So, as part of our next tour, we will be helping older people engage with their community by taking collections of food and money and giving it to local charities. Seniors are relevant and active members of every community. We hope to reinforce this.”
Operatunity’s international music tours have been put on hold until further notice, but there are plans for tours of top New Zealand tourist locations, accompanied by great music, starting in late August, including a Doubtful Sounds Tour, where people can stay on a boat in the Sounds and listen to classical music.