News: Opera Helps Online

With the circumstances arising from the global pandemic we find that, quite rightly, mental wellbeing has become something of a priority to most people. Music is well known to be effective in helping people cope in hard times and as a result various arts organisations have been using it to help people through tough times. 

Opera Helps is a project that before lockdown got professional opera singers to visit people at their home and sing to them one to one to harness the therapeutic power of opera to help with personal problems. With COVID-19 restriction the organisation has been unable to do that and so Opera Helps creator, internationally renowned artist and passionate opera enthusiast, Joshua Sofaer has been inspired to work with social project producers Wunderbar to adapt the concept for online delivery. Together they’ve launched Opera Helps Online, which invites people with problems to get in touch to arrange for an online visit from a professional opera singer.

The application process is simple and explained at www.operahelps.com. Taking part is an intimate and personal experience. If selected, one of six experienced professional singers that have been specially trained by Joshua (an accredited Relational Dynamics coach) will listen attentively to the participant’s account of their troubles. They will then select a suitable aria to sing face to face onscreen to create a powerful and moving experience that will allow the participant to reflect on their individual problem. The project continues until mid October and is completely free, with sessions lasting approximately 30 minutes.