Haydn - The Seasons

So, for my latest singing adventure I sang the bass solo last night in a performance of Autumn and Winter from Haydn's Seasons in Abingdon near Oxford.

What a strange and interesting work The Seasons is. Quite unlike standard oratorio repertoire. It is a challenging sing because of the huge amount of solo singing for the soprano (Jane), tenor (Lucas) and bass (Simon). Yes, the soloists really do have these twee character names.


It is considered one of Haydn's greater works, and was for that matter, one of the last works he wrote in old age. The work is based on the long poem "The Seasons" by the englishman James Thomson, forst published in 1730.

The work does seem to engender a love/hate response in musicians when asked about it. In between rousing choruses we have recits, arias, and duets for the soloists, which vary from the sublime to the run-of-the-mill.



The music really does straddle the classical and romantic eras. There is a lot of fugal writing, canons, and counterpoint in places, pointing to Bach and Handel. But the tonal shifts are very bold too, and along with the very bold tone painting point forward into the romantic era. Beethoven's proximity can also be felt strongly, especially the Pastoral Symphony, which shares common ground in it's nature thematicism.

I especially enjoyed the Hunting aria "Behold, along the dewy grass", which is a challenging but fun sing, with wonderful tone painting and effects. The two octave descending leaps on "...from the towering heights" are amongst the most bold in any baritone/bass repertoire.

Fasten your seatbelts!!!!

Panofka - 24 Vocalizzi, Op. 81

The last couple of weeks I've revisited Panofka's 24 Vocalizzi, Op.81.
They are a series of vocalises which work on all aspects of voice production, with an emphasis on breath control and coloratura.

Panofka was regarded as one of the great 19th Century voice teachers, and he had a background as a violinist and composer too.

That much misunderstood term Bel Canto is the name of the game here, but as well as being florid, these are also very vigorous and demanding exercises. They are for intermediate to advanced students of voice only, as their technical demands will be far too great for beginners.

My experience with them, and I'm still only on the first few, is that they are like lubricant for the voice. My way of working with them is of singing each one through once on all the different vowels (only doing three or four of them on any one day). I also emphasise the dynamic markings which are essential. Any clown could sing them through fortissimo all the way through, but the effectiveness of these hangs on an absolute command of dynamic variation.

They help the voice to get the perfect balance of light and dark; smoothness and rondeur in the voice increases, and I find that they expose any flaws in vocal production mercilessly!

Highly recommended.

ENO Opera Works

So, this autumn I have embarked upon a year on English National Opera's Opera Works professional development course. At this point in my career I feel that it is a very good step for me.

I have been singing lots of roles the last few years, since coming back to London from Sweden, but they have all been with small and medium size companies. On the one hand, I now have a huge amount of experience of stage work, and have tackled many of the main roles for my fach (plus quite a few which are probably too heavy for my voice). But because the financial situation for most of these smaller companies is precarious to say the least, I have had to, especially in the last year, work myself into the ground. And this isn't good for my morale and enjoyment of what I do in the long run.

This year already, I have performed around 150 times (including events and opera restaurant evenings). This is a huge amount of singing for an operatic voice. Although if I was a musical theatre singer it would be quite normal. The issue is that opera singing is uniquely demanding and requires a focus of skill, interpretation, technique and energy quite unlike any other form of singing.

So, to get by financially I have been undertaking this huge workload. I also have found it frustrating to be "hitting a brick wall" in terms of moving up to bigger companies. I know I have what it takes, and know that with a little tweak here and there I could easily be singing for the larger companies. My vocal technique is solid and improving all the time with the help of my teacher Robert Dean. And working with larger companies means that it becomes easier to hit the right balance between work and rest. Obviously you get better pay for what you do!

So, I decided that a course like this would be ideal. It is an introduction for me to the people and productions at one of the UK's premier opera houses. It gives me access to top coaching and to workshop sessions with great acting coaches and directors. And it gives ENO a chance to get to know who I am, as I get to know more about who they are.

As it is only part-time (one long weekend per month, a monthly coaching, attendance of ENO dress rehearsals, and some other events) it gives me a chance to do some freelance jobs this year in parallel, although I am doing far less than I may have done. You have to commit to attending the whole course. And as you are investing in it it would be silly not to. It seems a great opportunity to maximise my musical and dramatic potential!

Touring and sore throats

So, after a month on the road with Die Fledermaus, in my resurrected role of Falke, during which most of the cast has been struck down by some lurgy or other, it's my turn to have a sore throat. What the?????

And we're off to Stoke-on-Trent today for a couple of days before coming down to London again to play Wimbledon Theatre. Then up to Manchester to play the Lowry for the whole of next week.

I can proudly say that I have never pulled out of a performance due to illness in my entire life. I even performed once at Regina in Stockholm with an incredibly painful sinus infection which affected my voice too, but I refused to not perform. I just got sent to the hospital by my boss Lotti Huldt to see the throat specialist at 1 in the morning and got my first dose of antibiotics on the spot.

I do however, avoid antibiotics as much as possible. They are BAD news, and I know far too many singers who are struck down with nasty throat or sinus bacteria EVERY friggin year because they have built up an immunity to the bacteria through reckless use of antibiotics.

So, my necessity is to get rid of this throat problem asap. My strategy:
1. From two days ago, when I first started to feel I was coming down with something, I took 3 grams of vitamin C a day.

2. More greens, ie green smoothies (look em up) and cooked broccoli and spinach.

3. Plenty of fruit.

4. Extra zinc. I like to get this from pumpkin seeds, as the body assimilates minerals better from food than from pills.

5. Neti nasal douche. Yepp, daily rinsing of the nasal passages with my little neti jug. The key is to use body temperature salty water, and pour half the water in through one nostril (it flows out of the other one) and half through the other.

6. From today, as I'm singing tonight, a strepsil every few hours to guard against infection. And my sinuses do get infected easily so I don't want any of that heading south.

Visceral Singing.....bring it on!!!

There are not a huge amount of singers that I love listening to. I have to admit, I fing a lot of singers nowadays bland and pre-packaged. But sometimes you still hear someone with that primal connection, that heart-centred voice which sends a shiver down your spine, that intensity which flies in the face of smooth perfection and takes real risks.

They are the voices I love to hear. Visceral, searing, dangerous.

Here are a few of my personal faves:

Welcome world

Well, here we are merry people. I've decided to enter the blogosphere and all the ego-fuelled ravings and blatant self-promotion that it affords us.

So what can you expect here on my blog?

Well, I am going to give you low downs on what's going on for me in the world of freelance opera. Mention my personal adventures as I seek to further my career. I shall even cover various areas of philosophy, personal development and presentation from my perspective of coach, and I shall no doubt get a few people's backs up with controversial comments about what I observe around me.

So, bring it on, comment on the posts, express your agreement and your outrage.

Let's get this show on the road!!!!