Bass-baritone Christian Pursell performed from his pickup truck for the “Share the Love Truck Tour.”
On May 28, 2020, Cincinnati Opera invited College Hill residents to take part in the first leg of its “Share the Love Truck Tour,” a series of special performances that spread the joy of opera while also collecting donations in support of a neighboring soup kitchen.
The “Share the Love Truck Tour” came about after the Opera was forced to cancel their 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but still wanted to find a way to share music with the greater Cincinnati community. Cincinnati Opera’s Lori Hiltenbeitel expands, “As we pushed ourselves to really think about how we could be good neighbors and give of ourselves while also encouraging others to give back, it made perfect sense to partner with Our Daily Bread Soup Kitchen and Social Center, which is just up the street from our beloved Music Hall.”
Hiltenbeitel and her team built upon an idea she had seen work before. “At the beginning of the COVID crisis, I had experienced a truck performance in my own neighborhood in Northern Kentucky from a music teacher who was gigging around town in a safe, social distancing way, by performing from the bed of his truck.” She knew the idea could work for the Opera.
Tracy Wilson, a College Hill resident and Cincinnati Opera’s director of education and community engagement, served as the event’s emcee.
Once they had a concept, the Opera team needed an artist for their maiden voyage. “A member of our team suggested Christian Pursell as our first artist to perform,” says Hiltenbeitel. “He owns a very cool vintage truck, and also a stellar voice to go with that truck!”
Pursell, a bass-baritone, saw the value in the idea right away. “I think it’s important to share our music now because people need to un-bottle their emotions and connect with each other,” says Pursell. He continues, “Shared emotion is unifying and is part of the life-changing experience of going to the opera, or any concert venue. People are hurting, mourning, at the very least lonely, and connecting digitally while stuck at home isn’t enough.”
The Opera team also needed a driveway where Pursell could park his baby blue Chevy. College Hill residents Joanne and Carl Cornelius readily supplied the space, happy to help bring their neighbors together through opera. In Joanne’s words, “Art and music are wonderful mediums for people to connect, and they help us look at the past and be hopeful to the future.”
College Hill residents enjoyed an outdoor opera performance.
According to Pursell, the four pieces of music he performed were carefully selected to reflect the mood of the current times and take the audience on an emotional journey. “The ‘Toreador Song’ from Carmen celebrates people gathering and cheering the victor; we miss gathering, gripping hands and hugging,” he explains. “‘If Ever I Would Leave You’ from the musical Camelot can be interpreted as us saying, ‘We’re right here with you; we’ll never leave you; you’re loved.’ Our heavy-hitter was ‘Empty Chairs at Empty Tables’ from Les Misérables; 110,000+ have died officially due to COVID-19. Those lost are our friends and family—we are in shock and despair and this song cries out. Lastly, ‘Let It Be’ by The Beatles is an anthem we can all sing along to, knowing that answers will come, and when we pray and truly listen, words of wisdom will enter us.”
(Though the music lineup will change on future stops, the Opera plans to include a sing-along opportunity—in this case, “Let It Be”— to allow the community to join in the fun.)
Pursell says he could feel the joy from the audience. “Everyone seemed to have a great time and so many came up afterwards—socially distanced of course—to compliment the music and thank the team for bringing something special into their neighborhood!”
Christian performed four songs, carefully selected to reflect the mood of the current times and take the audience on an emotional journey.
The performance gave College Hill resident Elizabeth Sherwood a new perspective on opera. “Christian Pursell, the opera singer, was young and fit—he did not resemble the stereotypical image of an opera singer,” says Sherwood. “I assumed he was just the guy who owned the truck… then he started belting out songs like Pavarotti. The audience was amazed.”
“It was a beautiful sunny day,” says Pursell, “and I couldn’t have been happier reuniting with my friends at Cincinnati Opera and working together to pull this off so well.”
Hiltenbeitel agrees that the first stop on the “Share the Love Truck Tour” was a success, and not only from a performance perspective—the community responded with generosity and kindness. Many audience members were surprised by the performance but returned to their homes to gather canned goods from their cupboards for the cause, fully packing two SUVs with their donations.
“The kindness, the hope, and the connection is a huge takeaway, and a beautiful win for us all!” exclaims Hiltenbeitel. “It remains at the core of why we are pushing ourselves to reach as many neighborhoods in as many communities as possible.”
College Hill was only the first stop on the “Share the Love Truck Tour;” other neighborhoods in the tri-state area in the works. Look out for more information on those performances soon—and as audience member Elizabeth Sherwood puts it: “Unless your neighborhood frequently offers first-class performances from Carmen from the back of a pick-up, this is an event not to be missed.”
About the Truck…
So what is the story of the “baby blue Chevy” that Christian Pursell used as his stage? “My truck was originally a Glenn County, CA government vehicle before I bought it in ‘07 for $700,” he says. “It’s been a journey rebuilding it and I’ve learned a whole lot, including the principle that vehicles should all be this easy to repair by their owners! It’s a great hobby. (Tip #1: check your rear end gear oil level before a cross-country trip to avoid breaking an axle like I did with all our stuff in a U-Haul trailer behind us.)”
Bass-baritone Christian Pursell and his baby blue Chevy