Please excuse the delay in getting this online. You see, I
was buzzing with excitement this morning. I really couldn’t wait to get back
into work and onto the stage.
It was my third rehearsal for Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos,
in which I sing the Officer (all 9 words: ‘Laß er das sein und geh er zum
Teufel’). Not the most inspiring role but in this production, where the
prologue takes place AFTER the opera, I get the chance to sit on stage and
listen to some of the most glorious singing I have ever heard live, for about
30 minutes. It is truly inspirational stuff. The marriage of Strauss’s romantic
writing with some world class singers makes for numerous spine tingling
moments, I almost have to stop myself laughing with joy.
Healthy inspiration
Such moments as this mornings on stage act as a healthy
inspiration to keep working, keep striving to be better, keep aiming to be the
person who is having such an effect on an audience. I say healthy inspiration
because I have had to be careful about my inspiration in the past.
As a young Tenor in my second year at University I knew I
wanted to be singer, in fact ever since I was a Choirboy at St. Paul’s
Cathedral I had some sense that I wanted to sing as an adult. I didn’t really
know in what capacity though and for me the world of professional choral music
was very easy to access. By the age of 20, having just left University, I was
singing with some of the top professional choirs in the UK. My singing heroes
were the English Tenor school, Bostridge, John Mark Ainsley, Gilchrist, Padmore
and of course Anthony Rolfe Johnson. I tried to sing like them, I tried to sing
the music they sang and I hoped to one day emulate them. I also found young
singers a few steps up the ladder from me to be inspired by, namely Allan Clayton
and my good friend Thomas Hobbs, both successful soloists at a young age. The
problem with this, though, is that I am not any of these singers. It is easy
with hindsight to realise this, but at the time I was trying to crowbar my
voice into a sound world that it doesn’t naturally sit in. For Tom Hobbs in
particular, it seemed to me that he could sing so easily in a small consort
setting like the Cardinals Musik or Tallis Scholars and also be able to develop
a strong concert soloist career. It wasn’t until I had got a place at the Royal
Academy of Music that I realised this wasn’t going to work for me, that despite
being so keen for it to work out, the path to my career was not going to be the
same. When I got to music college I was the same though. I saw other singers
doing well and wanted to copy them, I saw them impress people I wanted to do
the same. To an extent I got lost in trying to be someone else because I
thought that was the only way I was going to succeed.
As I sit here now, with a burgeoning career, and so much
wiser (?!?) I am still inspired by Thomas Hobbs (Tom), and other singers, but
no longer do I want his career. I want my career. I don’t want to be the next
Rolfe Johnson, Clayton of Hobbs, I want to be the first Thomas Elwin (though I
also want to be the next Pavarotti, Wunderlich and Gedda). Tom is now one of my
best friends, was my best man and we speak regularly. I trust his opinions and
ears, we share a singing teacher, a love of cars and curry, and I am proud of
the success he has. If anything, I am inspired to be the best I can be more
because he strives to be the best he can be.
The Week
One singer Tom introduced me to early on in our friendship
was Fritz Wunderlich, the great German tenor. Fritz has been a constant
throughout the last 8 years of my singing life. It is a rare week that doesn’t
include me listening to him singing something, usually Mozart. I was delighted
on Sunday, therefore, to find myself in the dressing room here in Stuttgart
which has Fritz’s picture on it’s wall.
It was in Stuttgart that Fritz was in the soloists Ensemble,
and as I left the dressing room, to go onto the stage and sing Ferrando in a
Sextet from Mozart’s ‘Cosi Fan Tutte’, I pictured myself following in his
footsteps.
The Cosi sextet was the first item in Oper Stuttgarts 5 year
Opera Studio Anniversary concert and was sung by the six of us who are in this
years studio. It was the first chance that the six of us have had to sing
together and I had a great time. The concert also featured about 20 other
singers from the 5 years of the studio and they sang various arias and
ensembles in a what was a great evening for everyone involved.
Inevitably there were drinks and photos afterwards, I met
numerous supporters of Oper Stuttgart and the odd agent/artist manager. I
couldn’t stay too long though because on Monday I was on stage again at 10 am
for a Khovanshchina rehearsal and then in the evening was the final performance
of Der Freischütz.
Careful what you say
Probably because I was so tired after a crazy 9 days, the
last show of Freischütz was by far the worst I did. Though this was not helped
by a member of the music staff warning me, before the show, to be careful
because often the last show is the worst. Suddenly all I could think of was
what I was going to do wrong and in a self-fulfilling prophesy I scrambled the
words of each verse in my song, virtually making up the last line. Though I
know she was only trying to be helpful, there is something to be said for
getting yourself into a zone and virtually ignoring the people around you
before a show. The other six shows were absolutely fine and there really was no
need to worry about it.
With Freischütz finished the rest of the week has been a
mixture of Khovanshchina and Ariadne rehearsals. The Mussorgsky continues to
use up it’s luxurious 6 week rehearsal process with little urgency, which can
be frustrating, but I think it will be a great show. In contrast, I was only
introduced into the Prologue of Ariadne on Wednesday morning 4 days and 3
rehearsals before the opening night, this Sunday.
Settling in
I feel pretty settled here now. I have finally started to
eat more healthily, despite being keen to experience the local kebabs and ice
cream, and have been running a few times through the big park. The weather has been
changeable, one day it was like Manchester in February but today it is clear
and crisp. My colleagues continue to be kind and supportive. In this sense I
feel very lucky to have landed in Stuttgart.
I have managed to work out how to watch UK sport on my
laptop so I have caught up with West Ham United’s quite remarkable start to the
season and this weekend I can’t wait to watch England beat the All Blacks at
Twickenham.
Thanks
Thank you again for you who read this, who have commented or contacted
me. Without that I doubt I would have reached 9 weeks of blogging and I will
endeavour to reach the end of my time in Stuttgart with this blog.
Those of you so inclined to do so check out my new Facebook
page, https://www.facebook.com/ThomasElwinTenor where you will be able to read little posts and see photos of my day to day
singing life.
I’ll leave you with this link to some great new tracks from
The Wealden, featuring a friend and former colleague of mine on Vocals, Tim
Dickinson. Enjoy!
Hope you all have a wonderful week,
Tom
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