New Bedford Gets a Balcony Opera Performance

Imagine going for a walk around your neighborhood and hearing your neighbor belting out an opera on their balcony. It happened in New Bedford earlier this week.

A few months ago the city of New York would break out in song at 7 p.m. every night to celebrate and honor those working in the hospitals. It's was an easy way to uplift spirits during a period of isolation.

Mary DesRoches was walking in the West End of New Bedford near the hospital when she could hear opera singers on the balcony of someone's home. She pulled out her phone and recorded video that she later posted to Facebook.

After making a donation, DesRoches received a program from the group. The three performers turned out to be soprano Jinni Shen and tenor Cooper Joseph Jendall, along with Pierre-Nicolas Colombat on the piano.

The owner of the house was a doctor who happens to also be the aunt of one of the performers; this at-home performance was a way to make up for all the canceled performances of theaters and concerts.

This is the only backyard concert I have heard of on the SouthCoast, but I know there must have been more going on these past few months.

Mary and her husband received a program  after making a donation, which disclosed lyrics and the names of the signers.

Mary also posted a clip of the encore as well:

Now I'm not one to boast, but I was in all the chorus groups in high school and think that maybe we need to get the old gang together and put on a little reunion balcony performance of our own. In the coming months, I have a feeling we will need more of this, and here's hoping that this amazing spirit of sharing one's gift with their neighbors will rub off on all of us.