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Opera in the
Park returns
Win-win for Quiet Corner
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — 15 years? No really – 15 years? Yes, that’s how long it’s been since operatic song graced Rotary Park.
Parks and Recreation Director Willie Bousquet said the upcoming “Night of Opera,” at 7:15 p.m. Aug. 14, is special for that reason and because it’s loaded with local connections.
“It had been 15 years since we’ve had opera in the park. This has been a long time coming,” Bousquet said. “People had been asking about when opera would return to the park.”
As it happened, the Performing Arts of Northeast Connecticut had been presenting the Salt Marsh Opera with children’s programs at the Loos Performing Arts Center. But COVID-19 put the brakes on that in 2020. Putnam was looking for opera and the Performing Arts of Northeast Connecticut and Salt Marsh Opera were looking for an outside venue for a performance. Win-win.
Bousquet said working with Salt Marsh which is based in N. Stonington, has been “awesome. It’s a good Connecticut experience,” he said. People will enjoy the opera and the music, he added.
Sara Jobin is the Salt Marsh opera conductor. She is a Grammy-nominated conductor with extensive experience in opera. She has broken “the glass podium” at several companies including San Francisco with her debut in 2004. She has been principal conductor for the Center for Contemporary Opera since 2011 and champions American composers and worked with singers at all levels, from community choruses to Wagnerian soprano Nina Stemme. She lives in Richmond, Va.
Three opera singers slated to appear include: soprano Janani Sridhar, mezzo-soprano Sarah Nordin and bass-baritone Tyler Putnam.
Singaporean Sridhar is well known for her interpretation of operatic heroines. Some of her operatic highlights include: Micaëla (Carmen), Rusalka (Rusalka), Alice (Falstaff ), Musetta (La Bohème), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), and Violetta (La Traviata).
Praised by Opera News for the “clear beauty” of her voice and her “spot on comic timing,” Nordin brings an exquisite blend of vocal artistry and strong dramatic instincts to a variety of repertoire across opera and concert stages.
Possessing a voice described as “robust and resonant” by TheatreMania and deemed a “standout” by Opera Magazine, Putnam performs a variety of repertoire ranging from Sarastro in Mozart’s The Magic Flute to Luther Billis in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific. He was slated to perform here in 2020 but COVID-19 got in the way.
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