Steeped in a legacy of classical and Black secular and sacred music, veteran Omaha vocalist Carole Jeanpierre is making an audacious long-form composing debut with “Noalia: An Opera of Love.” As a Black opera, it’s a rare entry in the repertory. Even more rare is her having written both the libretto and score. She’s the opera’s designer, director and producer as well.
The idea for “Noalia” came to the soprano in a 2003 dream. Drawn from her own life, the words and characters came first, then the music. While she flourished creatively the single mom struggled getting the work on its feet amidst health crises and financial reversals. Tired of putting it off any longer, she’s cast the show and is holding rehearsals. Barring new setbacks, “Noalia” will make its world premiere Oct. 25 at Strauss Performing Arts Center on the main University of Nebraska at Omaha campus. A public preview is in the works for the summer.
“It’s been a long time coming,” said Jeanpierre, who joins an elite club as fewer than 2% of opera composers in America are Black.
Jeanpierre has long prepared herself for this moment. In addition to studies at the Interlochen (Michigan) Center for the Arts and singing as an Opera Omaha chorus member, she’s worked with jazz great Nat Jones and backed up Reba McEntire, Michael Bolton, The Williams Brothers, John Denver, Donnie McClurkin, Garth Brooks, Emil Borgir. She studied music theory and history at UNO, participating in its opera workshop and musical theater studio.
UNO theater professor Jack Zerbe was impressed.
“Carole came to the class an exceptional musician,” he said. “She also proved an excellent student of acting. She readily embraced new approaches and integrated them with ease into her already strong singing.”
Hal France also worked with her at UNO.
“She was older than the rest of the class, had started her own business, raised her family and was completing her bachelor degree in vocal performance,” France said. “As a performer her life experience, heart and talent informs what she does.”
Beyond the sheer effort involved in creating the work, she’s weathered severe challenges that might have defeated someone less driven or faithful. Part of her motivation in keeping the long-lived project alive is that her tight-knit family is an integral part of it. Her mother Nola Jeanpierre and daughter Elyssia Reschelle Finch, both fellow classically trained vocalists, have featured parts alongside herself and cousin Quentin King.
She developed “Noalia” as circumstances allowed.
“I’ve seen her stay up and work endless nights,” Elyssia said. “She even started piano lessons to understand her own music more. She’s one of the hardest working and bravest women I know.”
Even though “Noalia” is her big public splash as a composer, she’s been writing music for years.
Composer and music director Michael Dryver, whose “Requiem of Emmett Till” includes arias featuring Jeanpierre, is in awe of her talent.
“She is an extraordinary singer but also very gifted in different styles of singing,” Dryver said. “Many times opera singers are opera singers and jazz singers are jazz singers and gospel singers are gospel singers, but they don’t possess the skill to move from one to another. She’s very skilled in that.”
She, Nola and Elyssia were guest artists for “Requiem’s” world premiere in Chicago last fall and will reprise their performances for its Omaha premiere during Native Omaha Days in August.
According to Omaha composer-arranger-conductor Mark Kurtz, Jeanpierre’s “musicianship is nothing short of astounding – her versatility as a singer, unmatched.”
Violinist and “Noalia” musician Wanisha Clements said “the coloratura of her voice has an impeccable range – her singing always brings me to tears.”
Dryver admires her ability to quickly read and absorb music.
Clements said for “Noalia” Jeanpierre created rich, vibrant, whimsical music filled with love and passion that she demands be fluid and expressive. Strains of gospel, R&B, soul and jazz meld with classical. The lyrics are variously in English, French and German.
France recalled hearing a workshop performance of “Noalia” years ago.
“The music is very melodic and tonal coming from a gifted composer-singer,” France said. “The story struck me as a deeply personal one that channels life experience, memory and identity.”
“Noalia” begins with a major loss and funeral scene much like many its composer has sung at for youth lost to gun violence. At these real-life mournings she offers her plaintive voice to help bring peace and healing. Her plea then and in the opera is for love to win the day.
“If we can think in a non-conditioned way we can actually see a whole new love that will sustain every piece of balance we need to get along,” Jeanpierre said.
One reason she isn’t a “name” is that she comes from a family of artists who are also caregivers. Their unconditional service is often at the detriment of their own health and careers.
“We are caregivers naturally, we love people, and we’ll love them until we’re not well,” said Carole.
They recently sacrificed an audition for “The Voice” because Nola was caring for her dying step-mother and Carole was aiding Elyssia and her fiancé move into their first home.
“Noalia” explores various forms of love and the obstacles that can prevent its fulfillment.
“I am totally a romantic-era person,” Jeanpierre said. “Everything about me commands love. You’ll notice that in the songs I’ve composed. ‘Where You’ll Find Me’ talks about where you find rest and peace, you’ll find love and beauty. That’s what we all search for. Love is something you can find every single day but we’re so conditioned love should be this way or that, we miss it. It’s bigger than any one thing. Love is bigger than the ocean.”
“Noalia” is not only her coming-out party but a platform for her mother and daughter, both mezzo sopranos. The trio often perform together as DIVA 3, accompanied by Valentine on the piano. Quentin King sometimes joins them.
Nola, a recitalist and musical theater performer, is Queenie, a wise elder drawn from her family’s Deep South lineage. Elyssia is the titular Noalia, a dreamer torn between pursuit of career and romantic love. Carole plays multiple roles.
Jeanpierre’s core mentor and foundation is her mom.
“She was singing to me from the womb on out. She was my first classical vocal instructor,” Jeanpierre said.
As a prodigy, Jeanpierre’s earliest public performances came at Calvin Memorial Presbyterian and Salem Baptist Churches, with her mom serving as coach and inspiration. Dryver is familiar with the mother’s own musical prowess.
“There’s no one that sounds like Nola, no one. Her voice is like velvet,” she said.
Aware her mom faced her own struggles breaking the classical glass ceiling and finding time to perform around caregiver duties, Carole hopes “Noalia” provides a deserved showcase.
“My mother had to care-give for an entire family,” Carole said. “I was there to watch that. The whole time she’d be singing away while caregiving.” Before it’s too late Jeanpierre said she wants to “unlock doors” and “create a space where we can celebrate, even just as a family that sings classical music.”
She’s overcome steep challenges to get “Noalia” this far. Serious head and back injuries from a car accident several years ago left her unable to walk or talk. When able to sing again her voice was a weak echo of its former power and she endured spasms.
After physical therapy she regained full functioning to only later confront a breast cancer battle. Chemo robbed her of her singing voice. Getting her instrument back in condition took months.
Former Opera Omaha music director Sean Kelly recalls her determination.
“At her first audition she was not physically strong enough to sustain the kind of singing needed for a professional opera chorus,” Kelly said. “Where normally I would have said ‘thanks and good luck,’ I was so moved by her enthusiasm and dedication that I gave her ‘homework’ and asked her to keep studying and working on her voice and to come back and sing for me again in six months time.”
As usual, Carole was up for the challenge.
“After they pulled all the tubes and ports out of me from the cancer treatments I knew I had to work extra hard,” she said. “I worked from five o’clock in the morning until about eight o’clock at night to make sure I could get back where I belonged. I wanted to make sure I completed what was set out.”
Elyssia had seen it all before. As a child she watched her mother “grimace in pain relearning how to walk, never giving up but actually getting stronger.” Carole made it all the way back.
“When I next saw her she had worked on every single issue we had discussed at that first audition,” said Kelly, who hired her on the spot.
“The challenges made me stronger,” Carole said.
Her “endurance” is a matter of art and life imitating each other. “Life is still happening. But it’s how you climb above. That’s the whole message,” she said.
In between physical trials, she went broke trying to get “Noalia” off the ground with partners whose empty promises left her holding the bag. She worked jobs and took singing gigs, sometimes showing up in a wheelchair or walker. Her cancer fight happened at the height of Covid, forcing her to navigate treatments and recovery isolated from family and friends.
Elyssia marvels that even while going through that her mom remained “a light for her family and the community.”
Family tragedies tested the family again.
“Back to back to back to back we lost a grandmother, an aunt, a cousin and an uncle,” said Jeanpierre. “…I needed to just get the opera done.”
With “Noalia” finally near production, she said, “I’m nervous but there’s nothing that can stop it now. I will make sure ‘Noalia’ happens. I eat, drink and sleep it.”
Along the way Dryver’s been a taskmaster but, he said “Carole never stopped coming back. We kept working together.
Even though she’s not attracted investors or producers, she’s grateful to have never lost faith in her vision. Elyssia admires her never-give-up spirit.
“She didn’t let the fact that Black women in opera have a challenging history discourage her,” Elyssia said. “She kept going and just decided even if I am told no I am still going to pursue my dream. That is incredible to me.”
Nola said she feels “a real sense of pride and joy” in seeing her daughter realize her dream.
The family had her back the whole way.
“The main thing for us whether making music or making it through hardships is deeply rooted in the love that we have for each other,” said Elyssia.
Dryver cannot wait to sample the finished product.
“I’m excited to hear her opera to see what she’s done with it,” Dryver said. “I’m sure it’s magnificent. She’s going to go far. She already is moving in that direction to greatness.”
France expects “heartfelt songs, words and story from a person of substance delivered with meaning, context, passion and purpose.”
Consistent with its nontraditional approach, the accompanying rhythm band includes piano, organ, violin, saxophone and bass. Nola promises audiences will “feel the characters and the music,” adding, “Her compositions touch your very being – they’re just that moving.”
Elyssia can’t believe her mother’s come this far only to stop.
“For her the sky is not the limit, it’s the beginning,” she said. “I can see her trying to take her opera on tour. And she still has a huge vision for what ‘Noalia’ means – not only the opera. She envisions a place that fosters BIPOC youth in the arts and provides a space free of microaggressions. I could see her trying to find a building to make that happen.”