The Miracle of BARN OPERA: Joshua Collier and the Brandon community

https://www.rutlandherald.com/rutland_reader/the-lowe-down-the-miracle-of-barn-opera-josh-collier-and-the-brandon-community-create/article_cad0105c-a166-526d-88c4-6d0d4db13f1d.html

Jim Lowe

It was a miracle! Vermont opened its first real opera house, and it’s in a barn. And, just as important, it filled it with fine professional opera.

Last week, the Barn Opera House made its debut Aug. 21 hosting the sold-out Barn Opera production of Giacomo Puccini’s “Tosca.” (The fine intimate production was first presented in another barn Aug. 18, at the Isham Family Farm in Williston.)

Factoid: Opera houses like the Barre Opera House and Vergennes Opera House, etc. are not, in fact, designed for opera; rather, the term opera house refers to stage measurements, and a “theater” is bigger than an “opera house.” These designations once had to do with taxation. Hence, the Barn Opera House is the state’s only theater specifically designed for opera.

Barn Opera and the Barn Opera House are both the inspiration of Josh Collier. Collier, an opera tenor, discovered Vermont and Brandon while performing with Opera Company of Middlebury and decided to move his family here from the Boston area. After all, it’s not that much harder to travel to opera gigs from Vermont than from Boston.

As a singer, Collier is the real thing, an Italian-style operatic tenor. Collier is a lot more than that; he’s young and ambitious. But that ambition isn’t just for him, it’s for his singer friends and his community.

Now several years ago, Collier created Barn Opera in collaboration with his friends at Brandon Music, Edna and Stephen Sutton. Stripped down productions of major operas, like Mozart’s “Così fan tutte,” Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville,” Bizet’s “Carmen” and Puccini’s “La Bohème” and “Madama Butterfly,” usually with a unique Collier touch, at the 50-seat Brandon Music — all selling out multiple performances.

Of course, that got Collier and friends — including a lot of local volunteers — thinking (ambitiously). They found a barn on Pearl Street, bought it, and began renovating it. They waded through all the regulations, including complaints about expected traffic. But, there was no way it would be ready for “Tosca,” the final performance was scheduled for Brandon’s Estabrook Park.

But in another miracle, the Barn Opera House was ready for opera! Seventy-three feet long and 35 feet wide, the new opera house is divided into two zones. The lobby is spacious and filled with a reservations counter, buffet table and café tables, and even a fireplace, for before intermission and after. In the performance space, the 110 comfortable seats, divided down the middle for entry and exit, bank into the generous performance area. At right is the Steinway D (9-foot concert grand) piano and Barn Opera’s orchestra.

Now, it’s show time! I was only able to attend the Aug. 17 dress rehearsal, but it was pretty much “ready for prime time.” I didn’t review it because soprano Andrea Chinedu Nwoke as Tosca wisely chose to “mark” (speaking or singing quietly in a lower range) to save her voice for the next night’s public performance.

Set in 1800, Rome is threatened by Napoleon’s invasion. The celebrated singer Floria Tosca’s lover, the painter Mario Cavaradossi (Collier), is hiding the escaped political prisoner Cesare Angelotti (the able bass Miguel Angel Vasquez). (Nicholas Tocci nearly stole the show with his gorgeous baritone, as the Sacristan.)

Although “marking,” it was clear (she occasionally sang full voice) that Nwoke possesses a lush and brilliant soprano, matched by Collier’s beautiful and passionate tenor. Cailin Marcel Manson was delightfully evil with his dark baritone as Baron Scarpia, the chief of police, who imprisons and tortures Cavaradossi, demanding Angelotti’s whereabouts. Felix Jarrar filled out the score, with color and passion, on the Steinway.

Of course, as this is opera, things don’t go well.

The staging was simple, with desks, chairs, etc. in front of beautiful projections that also held the supertitle translations, all professionally lit. Unusually, several of the singers did double (and more) duty: Collier (Cavardossi) was the stage director; Manson (Scarpia) was music director/conductor; with Tocci (Sacristan) as associate director. (As there was no program, I can’t credit the technical work, particularly the carpenter who was responsible for the construction.)

And one final miracle: After weeks of readying the Barn Opera House, days of creating the production, Collier, as Cavaradossi, sang beautifully — earning more than his share of sympathetic tears.

Jim Lowe is music critic and arts editor of The Barre-Montpelier Times Argus and Rutland Herald, and can be reached at jim.lowe@rutlandherald.com or jim.lowe@timesargus.com.