Married Opera Artists Discuss Making the Switch to Zoom Performances

Two opera artists, Kathleen and Daniel Belcher, recently chatted with KCUR about making the switch to Zoom performances amidst the health crisis.

This year is Kathleen's 20th on the directing staff of the Metropolitan Opera in New York. She was set to make her directing debut in March with Florida Grand Opera in Miami before the health crisis hit.

"It was heartbreaking because we were almost done staging it," she said. "We were the last week in the room. I had one more day to finish staging the opera. It was a great cast. So it was really, it was a big disappointment."

Daniel was in rehearsal with the Minnesota Opera in March, set to appear in the world premiere of "Edward Tulane."

Now, they have moved to performing via Zoom

"I wouldn't want to put anybody's health at risk, not an audience member, not an orchestra person, not my own," Kathleen said. "I look forward to the days when we can (perform again), but I don't see any need to rush into anything."

Daniel also was one of the artists who performed on August 7 at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City's socially-distanced event, Soundscapes in the City. He will also be the program director of a new program from William Jewell.

"They're teaching us how to negotiate this time," he said. "We're hoping to do (Mozart's) 'Così fan tutte' in the fall with our six artists, and we're doing it outside," he said. "There's this arts plaza at Jewell which was acoustically designed, which we didn't even know really existed."

Read more on KCUR.

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