The Atlanta Opera: Connecting to our Community

Photos courtesy of The Atlanta Opera, Telegrams Images

In early March, The Atlanta Opera made the decision to postpone the remainder of its 2019-20 season in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. For a performing arts organization, live performances are the main connection to audiences, and the company began looking for new ways to reach the community. The Atlanta Opera's costume department soon began working to create more than 2,400 hospital mask covers, and together with The Alliance Theatre and the Atlanta Ballet produced more than 3,000 hospital gowns for local hospital systems and frontline healthcare workers. Eighteen artists worked from home to sew and deliver 550 gowns per week while live performances remained suspended.

The company also launched it's novel singing telegram initiative as a way to create personal connections for those feeling the need for human connection during the pandemic. Atlanta Opera Studio Artists and members of The Atlanta Opera Chorus filmed themselves performing and then the videos, combined with personal messages, were shared with senior living communities, hospitals, or other individuals in need of emotional support during this challenging time. The program was initially piloted with residents at Lenbrook, a senior living community in Atlanta, and expanded to reach frontline healthcare workers and other individuals in the Atlanta community.

During this time, the company found a new way of taking opera to Georgia's students and created a new immersive virtual show expressly for distance learning. The Studio Tour is a traveling production presented in schools and community venues across the state of Georgia. The 2019-20 season's production of Hansel and Gretel was wittily adapted by director Brenna Corner, as opera for the Zoom ag: Story Time with Hansel and Gretel. The story finds the siblings isolating at home but apart from one another, since Gretel has been stuck at Grandma's since the pandemic began. The new song and story session has already been distributed through multiple Atlanta area library systems, as well as on the company's Facebook and YouTube channels, with the potential to reach students and families throughout Georgia and beyond.

Looking toward the future and resuming live performances, The Atlanta Opera is planning the 2020-21 season with hope and optimism, while closely monitoring the ever-evolving situation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. For more information about community initiatives and upcoming performances, visit atlantaopera.org.

Hansel Gretel Images