Boston Lyric Opera’s ‘Street Stage’ Returns for Spring and Summer Performances

By Logan Martell

Boston Lyric Opera’s “Street Stage” is set to return for outdoor performances through spring and into summer.

Following a successful run last fall, the series showcases BLO artists on a mobile stage 26 feet long and 8.5 feet wide. The vehicle opens to provide a 270-degree view of the performers and was painted by student artists from Artists for Humanity, led by muralist Rob “Problak” Gibbs and AFH Co-Founder Jason Talbot.

The series will open with two performances on April 24 at the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, a Trustees of Reservations sit in Lincoln, Massachusetts. The performances will feature soprano Chelsea Basler and pianist Brett Hodgdon.

May 1 will see the World Premiere of “my name is Alondra,” a newly-commissioned song cycle that features the poetry of City of Boston Youth Poet Laureate Alondra Bobadilla, set to music by BLO Emerging Artist Composer Omar Najmi.

Next, on May 8, BLO will move to the Fruitlands Museum in Harvard, Mass, for two performances by an opera singer and an instrumentalist.

June 12 will see company artists at the Rose Kennedy Greenway for two concerts of opera arias, art songs, and more.

On June 26, BLO will perform at Brockton for the first time, in partnership with the Fuller Craft Museum. Baritone Nicholas Lagesse and an accompanist will perform two sets of arias, classical songs, and more.

“Projects like ‘Poetry in Music’ show that viable, meaningful art has come out of the COVID-19 pandemic,” BLO Chief Operating Officer Bradley Vernatter said in a press release.  “A year ago, none of this work existed. Street Stage came from [BLO General and Artistic Director] Esther Nelson’s and [Director of Artistic Operations] Jessica Brock’s dream to break through in a time of artists being silenced by lockdowns…to bring music and healing to neighborhoods of Boston and its surrounding communities. With the help of the City of Boston and all our partners, BLO is creating new threads in the rich fabric of its work, and connecting with new audiences in ways we hadn’t been able to before.”

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