12/08/2018

I Capuleti e i Montecchi

We are well into stage rehearsals now for I Capuleti e i Montecchi with Opera Holloway. It is the first time I have repeated a role, but it feels entirely different as this time I am singing in Italian plus a very different concept!

It is also amazing to feel the change vocally – three years ago I was sounding quite different, and my voice has changed size a bit from then! It’s interesting to find out which sections are now much freer, and which feel far trickier…

Working on Giulietta is really exciting as she has such a strong emotional journey throughout the opera. It presents challenged to bring across her fragile state and true terror, whilst not letting that affect my vocal production! Giulietta has to deal with the huge pressure of an early wedding to Tebaldo in order to please her mafia family,  whilst  all the while knowing that she is deeply in love with Romeo. She’s known she is to be married for a while, but with her recent brothers murder at Romeo’s hand, her wedding has suddenly become today. In Fiona Williams new staging, all of this comes on top of the fact she is just fifteen and  full of hormones. There are no other female figures found in the plot and so the poor girl is isolated in a world of extreme violence. Her first aria,  O Quante Volte, is one of the most famous and beautiful numbers for soprano, but it is actually a cry from a girl on the very edge of despair, with no way out of the tragedy about to unfold.

 

Peelfold Place:

This week I get the chance to perform with baritone Ed Ballard and tenor William Wallace in a very special concert being held at Peelfod Place. Once home to the hilarious Beatrice Lillie, this is a performance which celebrates the age of musical halls and parlour songs to gramophones and wartime broadcasts. England was home to a rich and influential heritage, often overlooked, in popular song writing.

Lady Beatrice was internationally renowned for her touching and irreverent performances of diverse repertoire, including the Ziegfeld Follies, and Thoroughly Modern Millie, winning a Tony Award in 1953, for her one-woman review. Quite a tour de force! The current owner of Peelfold Place has kindly invited Opera Prelude to perform this recital  of song, operetta, and cabaret, paying homage to Lady Beatrice in her beloved home at Peelfold. Now I just have to cross my fingers, as it’s an outdoor evening recital with 250 attending… and no back up rain plan. Sun dances only please!