Onegin- Royal Opera House

On Wednesday, I went to the final ballet performance that the ROH student ambassadors were invited to attend. The ballet was 'Onegin' and I was extremely keen to go. I love the story and I love the opera, but I knew very little about the ballet.

I was really pleasantly surprised. The music is different to the opera, but nonetheless, it was pretty magical. The dancing was incredible and it really conveyed the story- perhaps it shows that you don't need the voice to tell a story.

My one true love will always be opera- that is not questionable. However, I did find myself in tears at the end. As Tatyana pulled Onegin across the stage and banished him forever, it really struck a chord. It was such a powerful moment and it was portrayed brilliantly.

In the future I would like to see more ballet... but preferably with someone who knows more about it than I do. It's something I'd definitely like to know more about.

Atalante

I can't quite honestly believe it, but Jake and I were selected to be a part of the Atalante concert.
It turns out that our battle with Monteverdi was actually worth it.

As a result, we were showcased at the workshop, where the director of Atalante (Erin Hedley) gave us some feedback on our performance. It was very useful and we managed to build on the dramatic side of the performance- it mostly involved a lot of sexy faces and flirting.
We had a lot of fun.

On Sunday we got on the Barber stage and we sang. It was a wonderful experience. I got to wear my new ballgown and the response was really positive. The last few months have been difficult. I've been trying to drop one poor technique, whilst learning a new one and I think that there was room for improvement, but... progress has been made and more importantly, my passion has returned.

Let the progression continue.

Orpheus in the Underworld.

I love to be on stage (if that isn't completely obvious from this blog), so it has been a very different taking the back seat and directing a show for the first time.

Directing is hard.
It really isn't the back seat at all. I've spent most of my time running about, trying to keep the attention of everyone in the cast.

You need to be happy and in control in rehearsal. You need to be a visionary. You need to be an organiser.

I find myself exhausted after rehearsals on Saturday's and Wednesday's.

However... it has been fun.
It's really nice to see your vision performed in front of your eyes.
The cast really is good.

The costume designer seems to be very keen as well...
I'll keep you updated ;)

Combatimento with Monteverdi.

This week has been one hell of a fight.

At the beginning of my second year at university, I was invited to join the vocal group 'Early Modern Vocal Ensemble', focusing on the later works of Monteverdi to composers such as Rossi, Strozzi etc.
We were put into groups based on our voice types and vocal agility. Having a larger voice, my vocal agility is poor and as a result I was given a Monteverdi duet with my friend Jake.
The piece we were given was called 'Bel Pastor' and it was from a Monteverdi opera. It was chosen because apparently Jake and I are very dramatic people (hahahahahahaha).

However, ever since we received this piece, we have been fighting a constant battle.
It didn't help that the piece was possibly the most boring piece in existence... it certainly didn't help that it had the most complex Italian that we've both come across so far.

Having repetitive phrases and quite a slow tempo, we assumed that we would be able to get through the piece quite easily at the rehearsal for our piece.
If anything, it was a horrifying experience.

We were grilled for our poor Italian, the lack of accentuation on the prominent syllables in the words and general lack of phrasing. Both Jake and I are romantics. We like Verdi, not Monteverdi and as a result we sung in the Verdian manner, making everything loud, luscious and slurry.
Our singing teacher was not impressed to put it mildly.

Due to this disaster we have been meeting up with our singing teacher throughout the week to sort 'Bel Pastor'. It has been a huge learning curve.

Everything was wrong:
- phrasing
- we weren't rolling our r's
- we hadn't looked at the drama properly
- the Italian in general was crap.
- we weren't accenting the Italian properly.

There have been nights this week where I haven't left my singing teachers house until 9:30pm. Actual madness.

It has been hard and my singing teacher has been hard on me 'you'll never be a singer if you can't sing in Italian'.
There have been moments where I have wanted to stomp of the piece of music and set on fire.

Today was the day we had to present it to the audition panel to see if we would be allowed to perform it with the group 'Atalante'. There are only two slots, so the odds are pretty slim as there are around 20 groups auditioning.

...because of the stressful week, Jake and I agreed to just go for it. It doesn't matter about the Italian, we need to perform it if it's going to do anything for the audience.

And we did it.

And it was awesome.

We went for it. We acted it out and we enjoyed it.

The harpsichordist who accompanied us was the old head of department at our university. He was appalled by our Italian and general appalling performance at the rehearsal earlier in the week. Instead he spoke to us after the performance.
'You were both so easy to follow, you really knew what you were doing'.
I was thrilled. The stress, the worry and abuse had been worth it.

I don't know whether we've made the performance, but I know that I have come on so much in a week.

Monteverdi- you ain't too bad.

ROH Student Ambassador position and... ballet?

Something I didn't expect when I applied for the Royal Opera House Student Ambassador position was to be introduced to ballet. 

I've only ever been to see one ballet and that was in 2011 to see the Matthew Bourne production of 'Swan Lake' in Milton Keynes- hardly 'traditional' ballet. It was a brilliant production and being in the front row watching several athletic young men running across the stage was thrilling enough; you could almost feel the sweat pouring off them.  

However, since then I haven't seen any ballet out of choice. 

It isn't that I haven't wanted to see any ballet, it's just I wouldn't know who to go with. Being a singer, most of my friends are singers and would rather go to the opera than the ballet. Also, knowing very little about ballet, it is difficult to just 'throw' yourself in there and pick something at random. 

Since then, the only ballet I've really seen has been through my lectures at university; the slow introduction to Stravinsky's 'Les Noces' (hehe, noses) and 'The Rite of Spring'. Very few clips were shown and as a result, I was shielded again from ballet. 

It wasn't until I was invited to see a triple-bill of ballet at the Royal Opera House that it actually clicked for me. 

The second of the three ballets was a piece called 'Infra' and the music was by Max Richter. It was an interesting combination of minimalist music and electroacoustic sound; a combination that I had never really experienced before. 

It was incredibly moving- the loneliness you can feel, even though you are surrounded by people. 

Since then I have tried to watch a bit more and I'm slowly increasing my understanding of the art. My current fancy is the pas de deux from the Nutcracker; the music and the dancing really compliment each other so well. 

In the next few weeks I'll be travelling back to London to see 'Onegin'. 

Who knows. If this is good as well, I might actually have to buy my own tickets to see ballet. 

Hitting a wall.

I have one new years resolution this year and it is one that I never thought I would have to make.  In 2013, I need to find my passion for music again. 

For some reason, second year at university is sucking the life out of me. I know that I am not the only one who feels like this on my course, a number of my course mates have said they feel exactly the same. Last year I felt excited about the number of operatunities there were in Birmingham and I got the usual buzz from performing in these different shows. 
Now it feels like I've done it all before and it's a job rather than anything else. 

It doesn't help that during Turandot and The Gondoliers I was really ill during the performance week. Whilst Turandot was manageable, for The Gondoliers I was finding myself warming up in the morning for two hours just to produce a sound. Although it couldn't be helped, I was upset by my performance. 
At the beginning of this term I have started with a new teacher who is very good. However, after starting with a new teacher for the third time, I'm fed up that I'm starting from scratch. Even though I know she is very good, my mind is doubting everything - why should this time be any different?
I love singing and I can't understand this feeling.  

I don't know. 

All I know is that I need to find my passion again.

Any suggestions are welcome. 

Robert di Diable, Royal Opera House

Being home for the holidays, I was delighted to receive an email from the Royal Opera House offering student standby tickets for the last performance of Robert di Diable. 

Accompanied by my friend Matt (who had made the effort to come from the Devonshire countryside to see something at the opera house for the first time) we were rather amused when we realised that the last tickets I had bought were in fact standing in the stalls. This wasn't quite so amusing when we discovered that the opera was in fact six acts long; totalling four and a half hours. 

Luckily during the interval between acts 2 and 3, Matt managed to fight the other standing audience members for two empty seats. 

I was very unsure how I felt about the production.
It was certainly the best visual production I've ever seen. The set was extravagant and colourful, a real feast for the eyes and it was something that I've never seen a director create before. I am keen to see more of Laurent Pelly's work in the future, even if it is to marvel at his set design. 

As expected, the orchestra and singers were fantastic, especially the mezzo-soprano Marina Poplavskaya who played the character of Alice in the production. Even though the opera was full vocal acrobatics with the stratospheric, coloratura soprano role and the ridiculously low bass notes, something just didn't click for me. 

I think the fault mostly fell with the opera itself. The opera is overly long and some sections could reasonably be cut and it wouldn't deter the plot. The plot itself is complicated; the first two acts almost seem disjointed to the rest of the opera. The music is a strange combination of Rossini arias, Gilbert and Sullivan chorus numbers and Wagnerian drama. 

I think Laurent Pelly did a fantastic job with this opera regardless, but I do believe if this production is done again, some numbers should be considered for the chopping board.