TOLEDO, Ohio — While you shop this weekend at the Toledo Famers' Market, you can expect to hear the beautiful voices from the Toledo Opera as it kicks off its Free city-wide Pop-up performance series.
For the first time since February, the Toledo Opera is bringing live performance to different venues throughout the city with its “Opera Outdoors” series.
“We selected venues that would help us engage the Toledo community in its full diversity. So Opera Outdoors enables us to share opera with people who might not have the opportunity to experience it in traditional venue," said Alyssa Greenberg, Toledo Opera Community Engagement Director.
Suzanne Rorick, the opera's executive director, said the different locations in which the events will take place will help break down the barrier that is sometimes apparent at common opera venues.
“So this gives us the chance to use the outdoors while we still have beautiful weather and sing for everyone. We can do virtual performances but we know the power of the voice has to be heard live. You can feel it in your bones when you hear people live singing," said Rorick.
All Opera Outdoors events are free and open to the public and are designed to keep everyone safe and healthy. Attendees are asked to wear a mask and to keep six feet from the performers and each other.
The performances will feature the opera’s 2020-2021 Resident Artists and a variety music that everyone will enjoy.
“Certainly we’ll have opera and opera arias, at every performance, but we’ll also feature some musical theater, some art songs, popular tunes that everyone knows, spirtuals. So really everyone should recognize at least one thing we’ll be performing," said Rachael Cammarn, the opera's development education officer.
The eight-event concert series will last throughout septmeber and october.
Below is a list of locations and times of each performance. You can find more information about the Toledo Opera here.
- Saturday, September 12: 10:00 AM, Toledo Farmers’ Market (525 Market St)
- Saturday, September 19: 11:00 AM, Food for Thought (N. Huron St., between Orange and Cherry)
- Thursday, September 24: 4:00 PM, Glendale Terrace Main Building (3200 Glendale Ave)
- Wednesday, October 7: 11:00 AM, Toledo Zoo Main Entrance - Senior Discovery Day (2 Hippo Way)
- Saturday, October 10: 10:00 AM, Toledo Farmers’ Market
- Monday, October 12: 11:00 AM, Toledo Zoo Main Entrance - Lucas County Admission Day
- Saturday, October 17: 11:00 AM, Food for Thought
- Thursday, October 22: 4:00 PM, McClinton Nunn Homes Community Building (425 Nebraska Ave)