Having returned to Stuttgart last Thursday in order to sing
Abdallo in our 8th performance of Nabucco, it was good to meet our
new title character, 5 minutes before the curtain came up. In this particular run
of Nabucco every character except two, mine and mezzo Fenena, have been double
or triple cast. In fact I am never totally sure which singers I will be about
to meet on stage which adds a bit of excitement to the evening. This is not
unique to Nabucco. As anyone will see when they look at Opera company websites,
roles are often double or triple cast over a production run, not just in
Ensemble houses like Stuttgart.
Saturday’s performance was an eventful one with three
members of the audience being taken ill, and the commotion of the third illness
causing the show to finish early, about ten pages before the end and with no
applause. It was a very strange feeling on the stage itself, as we saw people
leaving their seats, doors opening, Doctors rushing in and then the orchestra
stopping, the curtain closing and the stage clearing, no one really sure what
had happened. Happily, we were told, the three audience members are all now ok.
Back again
The next morning, Sunday, I flew back again to London for a
Messiah at the Leith Hill Music Festival. What with my inability to sleep
quickly after a performance and the need to get up early for the flight, I was
quite tired and being woken up by the air hostess, asking me if I wanted a
drink, didn’t improve things.
The Leith Hill Music Festival was founded by Ralph Vaughan
Williams, 110 years ago, and takes place at Dorking Halls, Dorking, Surrey. I
actually went to school a few miles from Dorking in Leatherhead and it was nice
to be back in the area.
If anyone has ever tried getting public transport from
London Heathrow to Dorking on a Sunday I empathise. The journey which by car
would take 45 minutes took me just under 3 hours, but I was given a warm
welcome when I eventually arrived at Dorking Halls and had a great evening
singing Messiah to an audience which included a friend and supporter, my
singing teacher and my old German Teacher from School, a man who never had much
of a sense of humour and failed to see the irony of me living and working in
Germany having been so average at the language as a 14/15 year old.
It was good to perform with some friends and colleagues too.
Brian Kay, the conductor, former Kings Singer, radio presenter and many other
things, first booked me to sing with him about three years ago and I have since
sung for him on five occasions. Such faith in my singing makes for a relaxed
and enjoyable time and I look forward to being back to sing for Brian at the
beginning of April. It was also nice to sing next to Marcus Farnsworth, the
English Baritone. I have known Marcus for 9 years, since I was a undergraduate
in London and he was studying in Manchester, we haven’t sung a lot together but
we both came from choral backgrounds, went through the Royal Academy’s masters
and then Opera courses and are now working as Opera singers. It was very nice
to catch up.
And back to Stuttgart
Just 28 hours in London, having seen my wife for about 45
minutes, and I was back at Heathrow flying back to Stuttgart in order to be
there for Nabucco no. 9 on Tuesday.
Before Nabucco, I had an hour in the recording studio at the
Stuttgart Music Conservatoire, across the road from the Opera House. This had
been arranged for a few months and I recorded two arias, quickly, before
rushing back to the Opera house for Nabucco. I have recorded quite a lot in my
singing life, at least 30 different CD’s as a choral singer, both as a boy and
a tenor. I haven’t recorded a lot as a soloist and it is quite brutal listening
back to yourself sometimes. People often say they learn a lot from the
recording process and using my critical ears to asses my own singing, albeit
singing when I was not in the best of voices, was hard at first. I wasn’t
exactly expecting to sound like Fritz Wunderlich as I listened back, but maybe
a bit more like him would have been nice.
Sure enough, on Wednesday, after a few days of travelling
and performing a lot and sleeping little, I woke up with a sore throat and
cancelled the only coaching I had that day.
Know your body
As you may have picked up by now, if you have been following
my whole blog, singers need to be aware of their own bodies and health. In fact
we are often super aware of every little change in sensation to do with our
voices. I knew the sore throat was coming on Tuesday, I know full well that
lack of sleep is a voice killer and I just wanted to get through Nabucco and
then use the next few days catching up. Happily, taking Wednesday to recuperate
worked a treat and yesterday I was back at the Opera house rehearsing for the
Opera Studio concert in a car dealership (I will explain next week).
I am proud to have reached the middle of March having
performed 37 nights on the Stuttgart stage and only missed two rehearsals due
to illness in that whole time. Particularly following the disaster of the
summer of 2013, I know how careful one has to be and so, touch wood, hopefully I
will go the rest of the season, only 7 more performances, with the same record.
Next
This coming week we have the last Nabucco of the run
followed by the Opera studio concert on Wednesday and an audition in Cologne on
Friday, where I will be meeting up with another friend and colleague.
There continue to be a few developments regarding my 2015/16
season and I look forward to sharing those with you when they are more
concrete.
In the meantime, I am going to go and enjoy the sun. Spring
had truly sprung in Stuttgart.
Until next week,
Bye.
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