Opera Performers Live, Practice at Meadow Lakes

Sitting in a lounge area practicing a song, Kara Shay Thompson went over the music, preparing for the upcoming performance of Tosca. Nearby, ’ residents listened to her rehearsing.

“We don’t just get up and just sing it – there’s a lot of work put into it in rehearsal and outside of rehearsal,” Thompson said.

During the past month this was not an unusual sight for Meadow Lake’s residents, since Opera New Jersey performers moved into the community and spent most of their time there. This is the fifth year of the Artist-in-Residence program at Meadow Lakes. 

“The company has this great relationship with the Springpoint Foundation to house us here, and I have to say it has been an amazing experience,” said Kara Shaw Thompson, who plays the lead role of Floria Tosca in the Italian opera Tosca.

Performers are living among residents eating in their café and dining room, working out in the gym and swimming in the pool.

“I feel like I’m a part of a community and I love that,” said Thompson, who has never lived in a senior community before.

Thompson lives in Loveland, Ohio with her husband and daughter. She said she is on the road about six to eight months out of the year, and spends a lot of time in different forms of housing.

One of Thompson’s favorite aspects of living in Meadow Lakes is the food, and said she had several dates with residents over the course of last week.

“I have to say the food is really good,” Thompson said, noting her biggest challenge is keeping the weight off because the food is delicious.

Conductor Valery Ryvkin agreed about the food, and said it was “never boring,” noting weekend brunch was a favorite.

Ryvkin called the living arrangements wonderful, and said residents are friendly and ask intelligent questions about the performance.

“There’s a core group of them, probably about ten of them, that really come all the time, then there’s a whole other level of people that come in and out,” Thompson said, noting rehearsals are typically closed, but at Meadow Lakes they have allowed community members to watch the performers.

“The space is so good,” Ryvkin said, noting other places they have practiced were much more crowded. He said the stage at Meadow Lakes is comparable to a performance stage.

Thompson called the opera an “action-filled soap opera” and said she loves giving residents an “insiders view.” 

Resident Don Smith said he enjoyed watching the opera practicing, and said he was “delighted to have them here.”

In the first act, the children are performed by the American Boychoir School, and students from Westminster Choir College also has parts in the show, Thompson said.

Although a lot of time is spent practicing, both Thompson and Ryvkin said they enjoyed going into Princeton, and made sure to make a stop at the Princeton Record Exchange because of its extensive opera collection. 

Thompson said she has also been to Triumph Brewery and Mo C Mo C in Princeton, and Tavern on the Lake in Hightstown for burger night.

Opera New Jersey members have enjoyed living at Meadow Lakes during the past month, and Thompson said she loved never having to drive to rehearsals, and not having to cook any meals.

After two dress rehearsals over the past weekend, the opera is getting ready for upcoming performances of Tosca at McCarter Theatre on Feb. 3, and at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center on Feb. 12.