Blog
Sunday 27 November 2011
Imagine my bemusement then, when, at the interval, I decided to join the queue for the loo, and became ensconced in discussion with a choir member I'd not met before. After some kind compliments about my singing, she asked whether I'd ever sung for this conductor before... So just how is one supposed to answer such a question, without sounding like a total megalomaniac?? I confess, I was totally at a loss to know what to say! Fortunately, various of the other people in the queue leaped in with their responses, so I was spared the task. But I did feel sorry for her; after all, how was she supposed to know? She was just being kind and nice and friendly. What a lovely person!
Tuesday 11 October 2011
I have just got back from the brand new William Alwyn Festival in
Suffolk, in which I gave the First Night concert. I have
always been impressed by Festivals that make a big presence in
their home town and surrounding area: Lake District Summer
Music is particularly good at this with their large red flyers
festooning every lamppost in the vicinity, as is Cheltenham,
its Music Festival being similarly well-advertised. I was
therefore extremely pleased as I approached Blythborough,
Southwold and the surrounding areas last Wednesday, to find AA
road signs for the William Alwyn Festival firmly in place.
This is clearly a Festival that intends to stay!
I was also somewhat surprised to discover a
three-page spread in ‘Classical Music’ Magazine about the
Alwyn Festival - including a great big photograph of me - that
I knew nothing about. The Festival Director assures me I gave
him permission to use any such material (and I feel sure that
I probably did!) but it's really quite nice just to feel that
I am a “mainstream” artist nowadays.
Here's to may happy future years for the Alwyn Festival!
* * * * *
Hello, and welcome to my new Blog page!
For some time now, there have been various incidents during my working day that I have felt it would be fun to share - the "behind-the-scenes" stories of what it is really like to be a soprano soloist. In particular, stories such as the occasion when, during the performance of a Fauré Requiem, I spotted a massive spider coming across the floor towards me: it duly disappeared under the skirts of my concert dress, and thereafter, I never knew where it went. Now, I am not particularly scared of spiders per se, but I was concerned that it might decide to wriggle and jiggle about just at the point when I stood up to sing... One can hardly start looking about one's dress during a performance, and, therefore, it was with great presence of mind that I stood up to sing the heavenly Pie Jesu, just desperately hoping that the said spider wasn't about to tickle me! To this day, I know not where that spider went, but I am happy to report that no such wriggling and jiggling occurred, and I was able to sing my aria contentedly.
More recently, following a performance of a Verdi Requiem, I arrived home to find messages from an instrumentalist friend saying that she had received constant tweets from various members of the orchestra giving her a blow-by-blow account of my singing during the day. Such is the modern world we live in...! So, maybe, in its own small way, the starting of this Blog page is my way of relaying stories from my perspective!
Of course, it is not just the stories from
live concerts that are interesting; looking at my diary for
the autumn, I also have recordings, Masterclasses, and
Competitions coming up. So who knows what I may have to tell??
Watch this space: more anon!
Jane