This weekend I have been able to catch up with some sleep and spend a little time with friends ahead of what will be a busy three weeks for me.
Next Friday I will be performing alongside some amazing singers from the Royal College of Music in the first set of opera scenes for 2017. The rehearsals for these scenes enter their final week, and I am so excited to see how they all come together. I will be singing the part of Flora in a scene from Benjamin Britten’s ‘Turn Of The Screw’, directed by Lorenzo Mariani, with Josephine Goddard, Carly Owen and Ashlyn Tymms.
I will also be singing the part of one of the fairies in a scene from another of Britten’s operas, ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, directed by John Copley. The cast for this scene is a little bigger to accommodate all the characters needed and is made up of Rory Carver, Amy Manford, Steven Mills, Feargal Mostyn-Williams, Beth Moxon, Carly Owen, Ida Ranzlov, Eleanor Sanderson-Nash, Harry Thatcher, and myself.
Each scene was cast before Christmas, and we received the music in time for the Christmas break so that we could be off copy by the beginning of January. At the beginning of January, I had a couple of one to one coaching sessions with the conductor, Christopher Middleton, to go over my musical part in isolation of the others but with piano accompaniment. Following our independent study, we had a music call bringing all of the singers together to see how we performed as an ensemble. Then we did a music call on stage for the director, enabling him to get used to sound in the performance space. Once the director was comfortable with our sound, we started work on the staging of the scene. Each Director brought a little bit of their individual flair to each scene which the actress in me found fascinating.
The whole process of how the performance is brought together is quite amazing, the way the Director visualises the scene and goes about instructing and inspiring us all to bring their idea to life never ceases to amaze me. To be part of their vision is something quite special for me and I hope that I do the parts justice for them.
It has been a wonderful experience for me to work with everyone who is involved in the production and I want to say a special thank you to the staff in the costume department here at the RCM who have the task of producing and altering all the costumes. Putting on the costumes really helps you become the character that you are being asked to portray, which I hope adds that little bit extra to our performances on stage.
There are just a few tickets left for this performance, and if you are in London on the 27th January and want to come down and support us the show starts at 17:30 and is free, but you need to order a ticket from the RCM website.
I will try and get permission to take some pictures backstage next week and if I can I will share them with you.