NAHANT — Opera singer and Nahant resident Ute Gfrerer is using her voice to make a difference.
Galvanized by the COVID-19 pandemic and recent civil rights protests, the performer is now selling video commissions of her work in exchange for donations to one of several charities and causes, including My Brother’s Table, Doctors Without Borders, Black Lives Matter, and Girls, Inc.
“I’m thinking here, what can I do to bring a little uplift into this world? That’s when I had the idea (to use) songs,” Gfrerer said.
After the cancelation of several of her shows this spring, including the postponement of a Holocaust remembrance program she frequently holds in collaboration with Boston artist Lisa Rosowsky, Gfrerer wanted to do more.
At the request of a close friend, whose father in Switzerland was suffering from alzheimers, Gfrerer taped a video of herself singing one of the man’s favorite German songs.
“The only thing we have nowadays is music, really, and it was music from his past,” Gfrerer said. “It evokes something.”
The family’s reaction to the sweet gift, in conjunction with a tumultuous past few months, moved Gfrerer to use her talent as a way to not only bring comfort to friends and family, but also to raise money for several important causes.
“(I decided) to offer a personal message and a song to people who need a present for somebody they love,” she said. “If there’s someone they cannot visit, somebody who is getting married without people there, the idea is that this is something personal with music that can uplift people’s spirits.”
In addition to other commissioned performances, she has since performed outside a nursing home and helped another friend celebrate her father’s 85th birthday with an Italian Aria.
“Obviously nobody’s going to hire me to do a rock song. I have a huge repertoire, but I would be willing to learn a song if somebody has a very particular song (they’d like to commission),” Gfrerer said. “Since I cannot be onstage and sing for a crowd, this is what I can do right now.”
More information about Gfrerer’s project, including a list of song offerings, is available on her Facebook Page, Ute’s Gift of Song.
Those interested in commissioning a song can email Gfrerer at [email protected].
