Joshua Sofaer
Opera Helps
Presentation
“Incredibly cathartic, uplifting…unlike anything I have ever experienced in my life before.”
Opera Helps harnesses the power of opera to help participants view their troubles in a new light.
People apply with a problem and a professional opera singer meets them and listens to the problem. Then the singer selects an aria relating to their troubles and sings it to the participant as they relax at home. Unlike therapy, or a trip to the doctor, Opera Helps doesn’t aim to cure the problem – but past participants have found the experience deeply affecting.
Taking part in Opera Helps is an intimate and personal experience. People who have a problem – it can be anything they find worrying – apply to book a session and an opera singer visits them via video call. The singer listens attentively to the participant’s description of their troubles, and then selects a suitable aria to sing. The power of the voice in the domestic space creates an intense and moving experience; the participant hears music in an unfamiliar way, encouraging them to listen attentively, while focusing and reflecting on their individual problem.
To find out how you can experience Opera Helps please follow the link here.
Joshua Sofaer is an artist who works mainly with performance and installation. He often sets up situations in which the response to an invitation for public participation is then incorporated as an aesthetic function of the piece. Equally as comfortable working in a gallery, opera house, museum, public space, or private homes, what draws Sofaer’s diverse practices together is a concern with how audiences engage with the world. People’s experience is key, as are the material cultures they choose to surround themselves with.
Artist website: joshuasofaer.com
Wunderbar is a creator, collaborator and producer of projects made by and with artists and audiences. For twelve years we’ve been “seriously curious and playfully disruptive,” turning the everyday upside down, inspiring, challenging and nurturing new ways to work, think and play.
If you would like get in touch about this work, please contact Hannah Slimmon, International Development Manager.
Email: hannah@horizonshowcase.uk
Opera Helps Online
