Artist Rusty Moe had left her vendor booth at the Vancouver Farmers Market on Saturday to grab a quick bite to eat when her attention was diverted to another kind of food truck. The fare? Opera.
The pop-up performance, known as Opera a la Cart, is Portland Opera’s new mobile venue that it’s bringing to various community events, in part to pay homage to the Pacific Northwest’s food cart scene.
Moe and dozens of other market patrons gathered around the truck Saturday morning as a trio of singers and a pianist performed well-known arias, duets and ensemble pieces. Some onlookers, who said the performances brought back memories from earlier days, sang along.
The truck features a fold-out stage, designed and built by architecture students at Portland State University, and a “menu” of operatic specials.
“It’s a little cheeky to be offering songs instead of food,” said Mo McFeely, Opera a la Cart project manager. “People get really excited about choice, and it’s really meaningful to choose something from the menu and know the singer is singing directly to you. It’s an extra level of connection.”
When Vancouver’s Deborah Gottlieb learned the Portland Opera was going to be in town, she said, she knew she had to see it.
Her mother was an opera singer in the San Francisco area, she said, and she had grown up listening to and singing many of the same songs.
“I absolutely love it. I think it’s a fantastic idea because the young kids aren’t cultured or know this kind of stuff,” said Gottlieb, 63. “This is where music starts.”
Saturday’s menu included songs, such as “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and “Toreador” from the opera “Carmen.”
“We wanted to do the greatest hits. We want things people will recognize, even if they don’t think they know it. They can now put a name to it,” McFeely said.
Four-year-old Jocelyn and her little sister Louisa, 2, of Vancouver twirled and swayed as they listened to “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”
Their mother, 33-year-old Tiffany Brogan, said it’s one of her girls’ favorites.
“It’s beautiful. They’re amazing,” Brogan said of the singers. “It’s a nice change-up.”
Opera a la Cart started earlier this summer after Portland Opera received a grant to transform the food truck into a mobile stage. It has so far appeared at wineries, street fairs, college campuses and grocery stores, McFeely said.
Plans are in the works to keep it going next summer.
There are 22 singers and four pianists involved in the project, she said. Each weekend three to four singers and a pianist perform. McFeely said she rotates the performers so everyone gets at least one gig.
“I think opera, historically, has been an art form for rich, white people. I think it’s great to bring it to the community, free and accessible. It keeps the art form alive,” said 23-year-old Hannah Consenz, one of Saturday’s performers.
“Opera can be so serious. In an environment like this, there’s no pressure to get up there and sing,” she said. “I like watching people’s faces take it in.”
