Holy City Arts & Lyric Opera

August 6, 2020

The dog days of summer are in full swing but the heat and humidity haven’t stopped us from continuing to bring live art to the Lowcountry. We hope you enjoy reading about what we’ve been up to these past few weeks and what we’re planning for the future.

-Dimitri and Leah, HALO Founders

Who doesn’t love a little swag?
HALO offers cloth masks to Social Distance-SING! audiences.

Two main tenets of our Social Distance-SING! initiative are that audience members adhere to social distancing guidelines and that our performances are limited in duration to avoid long term gatherings. Acknowledging that HALO needs to make the community’s physical health and safety our top priority, we now offer masks for our audience members.

 

Music has been shown to strengthen social connectivity, reduce stress, lower blood pressure, stimulate memory and is integral to a well-rounded, enjoyable life. We’re making masks available to our fans in the hopes that we can continue to spread the positive effects of live music while reducing the chance of spreading COVID-19 during our Social Distance-SING! performances. These masks are 100% cotton, comfortable, reusable and very stylish.

Want to have us come to your neighborhood and perform? Want us to do a surprise concert in someone else’s driveway?We’ve shifted our performances to the evenings to beat the heat. You can raise a cocktail while we raise your spirits. And remember- if you forget your mask, we’ve got you covered.

Click to host a Social Distance-SING! in your neighborhood

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Make Music Charleston celebrates inaugural season
Local musicians worked together to join in a global music celebration.

The first annual Make Music Charleston, sponsored by Holy City Arts & Lyric Opera, launched on Sunday, June 21 as part of Make Music Day, a worldwide celebration held annually on the longest day of the year. The celebration featured free outdoor concerts, performances, music lessons, jam sessions and other musical events on streets, sidewalks, parks and public spaces across the city, so that everyone was able to experience the joy and power of music. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Make Music Day also took a virtual approach to include all people, musicians and audience members alike, to celebrate the joy of making music.

Over 85 U.S. cities took part in Make Music Day 2020, further demonstrating the power of music to unite and uplift people, spread joy and build community amid this challenging and unprecedented time.

For more information or to be a part of next year’s celebration, please visit http://www.makemusicday.org/charleston

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Exciting new partnerships
HALO forms alliance with Care for Life to bring live performances to the elderly and offers a culinary treat to opera lovers’ palates with Chef Alex Lira.

HALO has been partnering with Care for Life to bring live performances to residents and staff of assisted living facilities and retirement communities. Care for Life works for the overall well-being of seniors and their families throughout the Charleston area.

Many residents have been quarantined since early spring with very little contact from the outside world. In most cases, we perform a Social Distance-SING! program by parking under the breezeway of the buildings and singing through the front doors into the lobby or to residents on their balconies and patios.

“It was such a pleasure to partner with HALO,” says Sheena Janse of Care for Life, “and to bring their Social Distance-SING! and much needed joy to several local retirement communities we serve.”

She continues, “The healthcare workers in these communities face the threat of exposure and staffing shortages. The seniors they care for often struggle with the loneliness, isolation and boredom resulting from the quarantine. The fabulous performances by Dimitri, Leah and Chee-Hang brought smiles to all.”

HALO is excited to present Opera and Oysters, our Social Distance-SING! concert on a half shell! Together with Alex
Lira from Bar George on James Island, we will bring you a veritable feast for the ears as well as the stomach.

Chef Alex Lira serving up oysters is a perfect pairing to a Social Distance-SING! 

You and up to 9 others can indulge in some of the finest bivalves plucked from the ocean in the comfort of your own driveway followed by a private performance of opera and musical theater hits.

Presently, this is only available for fans who live on James Island, West Ashley or the Charleston Peninsula. For more details, send an email to OperaAndOysters@holycityarts.org

 

The arts continue to be shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic and will forever be changed, yet HALO remains committed to presenting Charleston with high caliber production value and memorable performances of trending and local artists.

Offering your financial support so we can live up to our promise will help us move forward as we find our way back.

Make a DonationWant to help in an easy way? Next time you shop on Amazon, click here. Shopping through this link will allow Amazon to donate a portion of your purchase to HALO. And whenever you shop on Amazon, go to smile.amazon.com to make sure you can continue to help us.

Already using Amazon Smile? You can change your charity to Holy City Arts & Lyric Opera.

We have some really big news that we’re going to announce shortly, so make sure this newsletter makes it to your inbox and not your junk mail. Thanks again for being a part of HALO. We look forward to seeing you at a performance soon!

Finally, if you know someone who would be interested in HALO, please forward this email to them or have them subscribe to receive our newsletter here.

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