An art form once common in Sault Ste. Marie is set to retake centre stage: the recently created Great Lakes Artistic Series aims to bring Opera back to the border city. The group was co-founded by longtime friends David Dellaire and Madeline Hubbard, who both trained as opera directors. They are currently vocal coaches. Dellaire, a native of the Sault, said the idea sprouted more than a year ago when they both expressed interest in flexing their directorial skills again. “There is a gap in the market here -- we don’t have opera in Sault Ste. Marie, fully staged operas,” he said. “There have been recitals and concerts that have had arias in them, but not, fully staged opera … so we decided we would start with a series and we would have some concerts.” The series runs Aug. 11-14. On Aug. 11 at 7:30 p.m. there will be an opera aria concert at Saint Luke’s Cathedral at 7:30. That will be followed Aug. 12 at 7:30 p.m. by an Italian art SONG recital, also at Saint Luke’s Cathedral. And performances on Aug. 13-14 feature a Jason Robert Brown Revue at the Algoma University Speakeasy, also at 7:30. Hubbard said songs chosen for the performances should be ones that audience members have some familiarity with. “Even for people who don’t know opera, you should know some of them,” she said. “They should be ones that you’ve heard over the years in, like cartoons or even in pop culture here and there.” Hubbard said their goal is to eventually do a “fully staged” opera, fit with “all of the set, lighting, and costumes.” “The big challenge in all of this is how does opera scale here specifically?” she said. “That’s why it’s exciting to do this recital series, because it starts answering that question to see how we can build something that’s going to be ongoing and successful long term.” The series features 11 trained singers, with all but one local to Sault Ste. Marie. Melody Shafiee, 18, will be performing ‘Bel Piacere’ at the Aug. 11 event. The Saultite recently wrapped up her first year at the University of Toronto, where she’s studying classical singing. “This is a really special opportunity because we’re kind of sparking an interest in this sort of music again within our city,” Shafiee said. ‘I would love to bring it back’ “Which is so special to me, because now that I study in Toronto, I love being there and having all this great classical voice and opera culture, and I would love to bring it back to my hometown.” It’s that unique opportunity that also drove the pair of vocal coach/opera directors to push for the local concerts. “There are these incredible and incredibly trained singers that study here, and then they go elsewhere to maybe do university or master’s programs, etc., and then they don’t necessarily have an opportunity to come back and sing classical music,” said Hubbard. Kait Tappenden is a teacher in her own right, guiding young music students at St. Mary’s College. The Wawa-born singer, who is taking part in the Aug. 13 and 14 performances, said she is eager to take the stage once again. “It’s very exciting,” Tappenden said. “I haven’t really sung anything quite this difficult since my university days, where I studied classical voice at Laurentian University. So that’s a lot of fun.” Italian herself, Tappenden notes that an art form that was born in 16th-century Florence should be of interest in a city with such a large Italian population. “I just think that it’s very meaningful to our city, especially (to) those Italian roots with this Italian aria evening,” she said. “It’s going to be a beautiful week of performances.” Dellaire said while they will use next week to gauge local interest in opera, they already have bigger plans for next year. “We have planned an opera for next summer that we’re going to stage,” he said. “We have already had a brief discussion about a couple of other events that will be (woven) in around that time, as well.” More information on the upcoming showcase can be found on the Great Lakes Artist Series social media page, with tickets for the upcoming shows available on Eventbrite.
