Local Opera Singer Performs In “The Listeners” Production

Nicole Heaston portrays Claire Devon in “The Listeners” at the Lyric Opera. PHOTO PROVIDED BY LYRIC OPERA CHICAGO.
Nicole Heaston portrays Claire Devon in “The Listeners” at the Lyric Opera. PHOTO PROVIDED BY LYRIC OPERA CHICAGO.

Local Opera Singer Performs In “The Listeners” Production

By Tia Carol Jones

Nicole Heaston grew up singing. The Chicago native was in the Chicago Children’s Choir and attended Kenwood Academy for high school, where Dr. Lena McLin was her choral teacher. When McLin heard Heaston sing, she told her that she was really a soprano and an opera singer. She then showed Heaston photos of Black opera singers and told her that she was one of them.

 McLin also encouraged Heaston to compete in the Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological, and Scientific Olympics (ACT-SO), which was founded by Journalist Vernon Jarrett. She won first place in her Junior and Senior year of high school. She decided to get a degree in Classical Music. Once in school at the University of Akron, she fell in love with it.

Heaston portrays Claire Devon in “The Listeners,” which opened at the Lyric Opera of Chicago on Sunday, March 30th, and runs until Friday, April 11th. “The Listeners” is about a woman who is suffering from a persistent hum that no one else in her family hears. She joins a community group who also hears the hum. The role of Claire was written for Heaston by Missy Mazzoli. Heaston was recommended to Mazzoli by the Opera Philadelphia. 

“She sent a questionnaire with all of these questions about my voice and the things I like to sing and where my voice feels the most comfortable, and she literally wrote the role for my voice, based off that questionnaire,” she said.

Heaston said it is a bit surreal to have a role in an opera written for her, even though historically composers have singers in mind when they write most of their operas. She said it is an honor to have the piece written by Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek. Knowing that her name will be attached to the opera forever, Heaston said, it is something that is really incredible. 

Heaston said “The Listeners” is set in current time. Heaston said she wants people to come and see the show and watch it unveil, the way they would if they were watching a television show on Netflix. She hopes that the audience takes away the fact that they are seeing something new and really enjoy it. She also hopes it can bridge the gap between people who are not really opera aficionados, and it makes them want to come back and experience more opera performances. 

“I also want people who have been opera fans their whole lives to expand and to add something else to their repertoire of something that would love to see at the Lyric,” she said.

“The Listeners” world premiered with the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet in Oslo and premiered in the United States with the Opera Philadelphia. Heaston said she enjoys the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet theatre. She said the people were so welcoming and received the opera very well. With the Philadelphia theatre, it was smaller and more intimate, and they responded as if they were in a movie theatre. Heaston said it was really exhilarating to hear the audience’s reactions -- the gasping and laughing and the quietness.

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit lyricopera.org/listeners, or call 312.827.5600.


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