Opera QC has two upcoming programs
Two special Opera Quad Cities programs are coming up this month.
The first — the Bettendorf Public Library has teamed up with Opera Quad Cities to offer a musical series designed to introduce listeners to the beauty of classical singing. The next free session is titled Opera 101: by the Numbers and will focus on duets, trios, and more.
The presentation will be held on Thursday, March 16th at 7 p.m. Registration is not required to attend. The program will be held at the Bettendorf Public Library at 2950 Learning Campus Drive.
The mission of Opera Quad Cities is to bring the art of classical singing to everyone. The opera program at the Bettendorf Library is a recurring program designed highlight the accessibility of classical vocal literature.
Next is the new “Jenny Lind Presents P.T. Barnum” – a one-woman show by Augustana’s Shelley Cooper – to be performed at First Lutheran Church, 1230 5th Ave., in Moline on March 25 at 3 p.m. Tickets are pay what you can, donations to Opera Quad Cities.
In the show (for which Cooper received an Augie Wallenberg Grant to help research and write), P.T. Barnum, that Greatest Showman, has put Jenny Lind, the Swedish Nightingale, on an exhausting tour of multiple cities that made Barnum extravagantly wealthy and that provided Lind with the funds that she sought to found a music school in Sweden. It’s 1850, and she refuses to be exploited any more, wanting to take control of her own career, according to a synopsis.
She calls out Barnum not only for exploiting her, but for his other sins, like the time he sold tickets to the public autopsy of a Black enslaved woman, whom he tried to pass off as the former nanny of George Washington. Lind confesses her own shortcomings: Despite her reputation for philanthropy, she failed to speak out against slavery.
Cooper debuted it in early February at the Whitefire Theatre’s Solofest 2023 in Los Angeles. A review at nohoartsdistrict.com said:
“Shelley plays Lind with a knowing tenderness. But Lind was no shrinking violet. In fact, she was one of the very few who ever stood up to Barnum, whoever managed to break a contract in fact. I suppose he must have admired her. She was certainly a woman well ahead of her time.
“Shelley plays that to perfection,” the review said. “The strength, the determination, the utter self-knowledge, the confidence in her own worth that must have driven her throughout her life.
“Shelly Cooper has created a niche. She develops these wonderful stories, with mesmerizing performances of fascinating, beguiling musical women who ignore the stuffy world around them and forged their own unique paths, despite and perhaps even because of the adversity. I see Shelley in them. Her quiet strength and focus.”
“Her unique talents and how she uses them to find the truth in all these women. She has an artist’s eye, the voice of an angel, and a poet’s heart. We are very lucky to have her in our town creating these truly brilliant performances, showcasing these moments in history with unique warrior women who shattered preconceived notions and break the world in the best possible way.”
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