Blog Posts

Lisa Gasteen National Opera School 2014: 22 November to 21 December

22/12/2014

So, after a few fantastic days of R&R in Darwin, spent swimming in waterfalls and scrumping mangoes from an abandoned mango farm, I flew straight to Brisbane to start a month’s work at the Lisa Gasteen National Opera School 2014.

This was the fourth year that the School has been running and, to date, the longest and most intensive program. Six days a week for four weeks, sometimes 12 hour days, it was a true Operatic Boot Camp. Top coaches and singers from all over the world with pedigrees from the likes of Covent Garden, La Scala and The NY Metropolitan Opera came together to instruct and inform, including John Fisher, Sharolyn Kimmorley, Robert Lloyd, Richard Hetherington, Giovanni Reggioli, Phillip Mayers, Stuart Maunder, Norma Marschke and of course Lisa Gasteen. As well as one on one coaching, we prepared scenes for the Gala Concert and Liederabend, participated in public masterclasses, and had lectures, Alexander Technique sessions, auditions for industry representatives and Italian (and Russian) language lessons.

Add in there the drama of the first week’s “supercell” storm which mashed large parts of Brisbane, toppled the tree outside the window of the room I was staying, flooded my accommodation (including said room) and meant we were without power for a night, and it was a fairly full on end to the year! Basically my brain exploded. In a good way.

It was such a luxury to have so many encouraging experts (“They’re nice, but not necessarily kind”, I heard someone comment, a good balance when teaching at that level I think) but also the luxury of having such a warm, supportive and collegial group with whom to study and learn – often not the case in a competitive industry. I met so many gorgeous and talented characters this month (both singers and repetiteurs) in amongst the Euco-steamers, neck vibrators and youtube clips of Anna Russell, with whom I am very grateful to have made a connection, and we had a lot of fun both onstage and off.

(On the left here are Lisa and I, with "Dave" and her Brünnhilde spear from the 2004 Adelaide Ring Cycle: "Nobody ever asked how Wotan lost his eye!" she says, waiving the spear around wildly. She is such a hoot.)

I stumbled away from the experience with (hopefully) greater mastery, more knowledge, a renewed sense of inspiration and direction, and a renewed caffeine habit with which I must deal in the new year.

I want to thank the organisers of the School, most especially Dominique Fegan, who is an absolute powerhouse, and the generous sponsors of my scholarship to the School, Dr & Dr Ritchie, without whom I most definitely would not have been able to afford to attend. And to all my fellow LGNOS participants, whom I miss already, “Bravi tutti!”

Wild Swans with the Darwin Symphony Orchestra

26/11/2014

Mid-November, I travelled to Darwin for the first time ever (very exciting!) to sing in Elena Kats-Chernin’s ballet suite “Wild Swans”. As if I weren’t already excited enough about seeing the Top End for the first time, and singing with an orchestra (any orchestra! I love orchestras! I tried recently to explain how it feels, to me, and the best thing I could come up with was “It’s like riding a dragon!” Sure, Fitz-Gibbon. Well done.), before I headed up there I had the chance to go and meet Elena herself and have a coaching on the music.

That was a lovely morning. Broad sunshine, and Ms Kats-Chernin lives by the sea, and is full of warmth and cool stories about the evolution of her music. Afterwards, my poor little car broke down in her driveway and she offered me lunch while I waited for the NRMA. I was too shy to accept, so she stood out in the shade of the porch with me and chatted about life, and her kids, and her equally poor little car. She was so generous with her time, and with herself. A beautiful soul. The following week she texted me to wish me luck with the performance just before the first rehearsal began: it tickled me no end to be able to say casually to the Conductor, Matthew Wood, “Oh yes, Elena’s just texted to wish us all the best!”

Elena had lent me a DVD of the original Australian Ballet production, where I’d seen that the soprano is in fact on stage as part of the action (as “The Good Fairy”) rather than in the pit as part of the orchestra. The wonderful Matthew Wood, keen to make the whole concert (which also featured Vaughan-Williams, Mendelssohn and a hilariously Northern Territorised version of Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf”) as visually stimulating as possible, encouraged me to perhaps move around between one movement and the next.

“How much can I move around?"
“Really, as much as you feel comfortable to….. You can do cartwheels if you want!”
“Well, I’m just a bit worried about the shoes I’ve brought with me….could be a bit dangerous if I’m running around too much, especially on the stairs….”
“Oh, you don’t have to wear shoes if you don’t want to. Just go for it.”

JACKPOT. Cue change of dress decision (fortunately I was on my way to a month in Brisbane, so I had several with me) and 24-hours of trying to work out appropriate stage moves. Come the performance, I was off! Dancing, twirling, skipping, poking about on tip-toe through the orchestra, up and down the audience aisles and casting spells across the whole auditorium of wide-eyed kids and smiling adults. It was so liberating, and such a great memory was made.

A very, very big thank you to all those at Darwin Symphony Orchestra who looked after me so wonderfully and who let me pretend to be The Good Fairy for the night. They are a very special orchestra in the Australian landscape, championing new Australian works in 2015 and beyond, and bringing a very unique energy to classical music in this country. Magic!

Sappho series – Dolci Tormenti – Melbourne: Fri 24th Oct, Villawood Detention Centre and Sydney: Fri 31st Oct 2014

2/11/2014

On Friday 24th October at the beautiful Medley Hall in Melbourne, whose rococo glamour made it the perfect venue for such an event, the ladies of Sappho began the first concert in a series which has definitely been the closest to my heart of all the projects I’ve worked on this year. Three concerts: two as fundraisers for asylum seeker charities in Victoria and New South Wales, and the third inside Villawood Detention Centre for detainees.

Hannah Lane (Italian triple harp), Jennifer Kirsner (baroque violin), Ellie Walker (baroque cello) and myself (tambourine….no seriously) presented an ambitious concert of very early Italian music in an homage to the “sweet torments” of love. One of the utterly fantastic things about this early Italian court music is how passionate and unexpected it is – at once elegant and unruly, bursting from melancholy to bitterness, longing and downright bawdiness. (I couldn’t help myself, right at the end of the Melbourne concert before the final piece, I ended up explaining “It’s basically about boobs”, causing my more-refined stage companions to guffaw and shake their heads.

.....I’m confident I got away with it.)

In the five days leading up to this first concert, the four of us spent the time rehearsing down on the pretty Mornington Peninsula, and I know that getting the material up to the level we wanted it pushed all four of us in the short time that we had. To have that experience of challenge and discovery, as well as so much fun and solidarity, with three such fantastic ladies has been a privilege, and I am looking forward to more collaborations in the future.

A week later we hauled ourselves out to Western Sydney in 30-odd degrees (the instrumentalists were all champions, dealing with the temperature-tuning challenges of period instruments) and gave a really magical, humbling performance to a group of detainees. The security protocols surrounding the concert were pretty intimidating, but the reception we got made it all worth it. At the end, many people came up wanting to chat to us and look at the instruments (and help us carry them back to the front security section), and one man who had sat quietly with his eyes closed through the whole concert came and said, “Thank you for taking me away from here for an hour”. That says it all, really: about detention, and about music.

Our first concert was generously sponsored by Purple Hen Wines, and our second public performance – in the equally beautiful Glebe Town Hall – was sponsored by the fabulous Beliso Chocolates (handmade, ethically sourced artisanal chocolate – SO good! The whole performance venue smelled like delicious chocolate by the time interval was through!). Together with our sponsors, we raised nearly $2,000 for The Asylum Seekers Centre (VIC) and The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (NSW). A lot of hard work was put in by all involved, and I am very proud of what we achieved both musically and socially. Most of all, I am very grateful to be surrounded by musicians and friends who pulled together to make it all happen (with special thanks also going to Matthew Lorenzon, my mum, and my husband for helping with transport and set up!). Well done, everybody!

Here we are having a well-earned drink at the pub after the final show. I have loved hanging out with these ladies:
(L-R: Jennifer Kirsner, myself, Hannah Lane, Ellie Walker)

Concert in Canberra at Italian Ambassador’s Residence for Buk Bilong Pikanini

12/10/2014

This weekend just past saw me returning happily to my old stomping ground of Canberra once again, this time to sing as part of an Italian Gala Concert at the Residence of the Italian Ambassador to Australia, as a fundraiser for the wonderful charity Buk bilong Pikinini.

Buk bilong Pikinini (books for children) is an independent not-for-profit organisation based in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, which aims to establish children's libraries and foster a love of reading and learning. In PNG there are few functioning libraries outside the school system and most children do not have access to books at all. Only half of school-age children go to school and the literacy rate in PNG is well under the 50% officially claimed - in some areas as low as 5%.

The organisation aims to bring the books to the children via the creation of small Buk bilong Pikinini libraries in community-based localities such as near settlements, clinics and market places. They were established in 2007 and have so far set up seventeen children's libraries across PNG, with the latest being on Manus Island.

Christina Wilson, Alan Hicks, Christopher Lincon Bogg and I presented a fun mixture of Italian opera and song, and hobnobbed afterwards amongst the various beautiful art treasures of the Residence with many generous members of the Canberra community including HE Charles Lepani, PNG High Commissioner to Australia and his wife Katherine Lepani, HE Annemieke Ruigrok Ambassador of the Netherlands to Australia and Deputy Ambassador of Switzerland to Australia Stefan Kloetzli and his wife Claudine, as well as the wonderful BBP co-founder and organiser, Anne-Sophie Hermann, and the Italian Ambassador’s truly charming wife Mrs Svetlana Sharapa Zazo.

I was lucky enough to be invited to stay over that night at the Residence (luxurious Italian marble bathroom, I felt very spoilt! Though I forgot that the “C” on the bathroom tap might stand for “caldo” rather than cold and nearly burnt myself) and spent the following morning playing Wii with the adorable young daughter of the Italian Ambassador, with whom I kept falling into a giggling-spiral over breakfast. She laughed as she asked me why I laughed so much (which made me laugh more), but neither my Italian nor her English were yet good enough to easily explain “default setting in the delightful but awkward situation of being in a stranger’s house for breakfast”. Fortunately the universal language of dancing to cheesy pop music in front of the telly said everything needed, and my biggest win of the weekend was that she wanted me to come back and babysit. Naw!

For more information on Buk bilong Pikinini and the amazing work they are doing, please check out their website: Buk bilong Pikinini

13-Tradie

25/9/2014

I did my first ever session yesterday recording a radio commercial in Sydney. It was, frankly, hilarious. When you are working with fabulous musicians who also happen to be good friends, you get the job done and then have time to muck around also (although I did worry at the time I was mucking around a bit too much, but they know me well enough to keep me in check). I kept wanting to put pirate noises in but for some reason they just weren’t going for it. However, I got props for my excellent clapping and clicking skills. All those years of conservatoire training are seriously paying off, folks.

Saluting Sydney Women – Sydney Women’s Fund Luncheon

20/8/2014

Continuing my feminist theme for the month, yesterday I was very happy to be invited to sing at a fundraising lunch for the Sydney Women’s Fund (a subfund of the Sydney Community Foundation), in honour of the wonderful, culture-loving governor of NSW, Dame Marie Bashir. Dame Marie has been governor since 2001 and is about to step down from her position, so this lunch was a chance to honour her and all the amazing work she has done over her tenure, as well as to promote the fantastic work of the Sydney Women’s Fund, of which she is the patron.

It was an eye-opening experience for me in one sense, because as I entered the beautifully-arrayed function room in the top of the Museum of Contemporary Art (such amazing views straight down on to Circular Quay! Not a bad office for the day!) I realised with a stomach flutter that I had never in my life been in a room filled with a couple of hundred accomplished, important FEMALE business and political leaders. In my life as a singer, and my previous life as a paralegal, I’d had ample opportunity to mix with powerful men, but realising that this was a new and special terrain really gave me a buzz, and a feeling of pride.

I believe feminism and promoting women’s issues remains important. Like many Australian women of a certain (fortunate) demographic, I received a good education and was exposed to social power structures early on in life, so that I never FELT discriminated against when growing up, and believed I was capable of anything. Like many Australian women, however, I have experienced violence, abuse, harassment, and the frustrating inequality of the gender pay gap. My white, middle-class experiences pale in comparison to some of the difficulties and injustices faced by women countrywide, and it was humbling and wonderful to hear of the projects being run by this organisation.

The Sydney Women’s Fund gives to projects that change the lives of women and girls, gathers evidence on issues impacting on women’s lives to inform giving, and advocates for women’s safety, shelter, education, employment and independence. I was proud to lend my energies and resources to them for the day, and if you should wish to share any of yours, you should visit their website, here: https://www.sydneycommunityfoundation.org.au/sub-funds/sydney-womens-fund

Dame Marie, about whom I have already heard so many sweet stories regarding her charming and personable ways, delighted me with stories of her first visit to Vienna, age 20, and having to suck on her fingertips to keep them from freezing in her fingerless gloves. Despite rising to such public heights, she has retained her gentleness and warmth. I would love to see more examples of such humanity in public office! Thank you, Dame Marie!

[Photography, left and below: Carla Orsetti]

“For most of history….. ‘Anonymous’ was a woman” Brisbane Baroque Players: What One Can Do: Women of the Baroque

10/8/2014

“I once believed that I possessed creative talent, but I have given up this idea; a woman must not desire to compose — there has never yet been one able to do it. Should I expect to be the one?” – Clara Schumann, 1839

The stories of female composers such as Clara Schumann, Maria Anna Mozart and Fanny Mendelssohn and the fates they (and their music) faced are by now well known: initially as side notes to the histories of their illustrious and famous male family members, and increasingly nowadays in their own right. But what of all the female composers down through history who were similarly discouraged from pursuing their musical dreams by the limitations placed upon their sex, and whose talents are now lost to us?

As a rule, for so much of history, it was considered impossible for women to write music….and for those who did it anyway, it was considered unseemly and unfeminine, and was generally limited to purely domestic idioms and audiences, or quashed altogether by marriage. Such music as reached publication generally did so under the name of a supportive male relative, or as “Anonymous”.

One truly extraordinary woman (with an equally extraordinary father) whose compositions happily did not share this sorry fate was the baroque composer Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677).

Adopted and championed by her father Giulio (she was illegitimate), she was introduced to Venice’s intellectual elite, and studied with masters such as Francesco Cavalli. She grew into one of the most prolific composers of vocal music of her time, a pioneer of the new “cantata” form, a performer (singer) also admired for her poetry, and most importantly, a PUBLISHED composer. No other woman would be both talented and fortunate enough to manage this for several CENTURIES!

She is such an interesting figure that of course when I was invited by The Brisbane Baroque Players to sing a concert focusing on her seldom-performed work I jumped at it, and then I fell in love with her musically on top of as a proto-feminist icon!

The Brisbane Baroque Players, founded in 2011, is the only regularly-performing baroque outfit of its size in Brisbane, and exists with the purpose of breaking down traditional barriers between audience and performer, and nurturing new talent in the realms of HIP (Historically Informed Practice). I had a great deal of fun working with them and was very, very proud to be bringing the music (and story) of this remarkable woman to light again.

The Mietta Song Community 2014

25/7/2014

“Let’s face it. Nowadays, music is a vocation. And so, without community, we have nothing……”

Taking part in the Mietta Song Competition this year (19 & 20 July) has been such a positive experience and, as most musicians will tell you, competitions rarely are. For that reason, I am really happy and very proud to have been a part of it and even more, to have made it to the finals. Believe me, I was so sure I’d blown it in the semifinals, that I could barely contain my excitement when my name was read out as a finalist. I hadn’t bought any food for breakfast, as I was fairly convinced (in a field that strong) that I would be brunching leisurely on the Sunday instead of preparing for a final! Duh.

I think there were several things that contributed to me finding the Miettas such an encouraging and uplifting experience. First of all, there is the fact that by now I’ve taken so many beatings at competitions and auditions that I guess my coping skills are just a whole lot better!

Secondarily, there was the oft-repeated information right from just after I qualified as a semifinalist, back in March, that the competition this year was going to be very close/the strongest field that had ever been seen at the Miettas/full of wonderful performers/some variation upon this theme. This was obviously very intimidating, but also made me feel very special and grateful to have even had the chance to compete. [I was also excited to air a particular piece – Dulcie Holland’s “To An Infant Son” – as it was the first time it was heard publicly since it was first written in 1958. I discovered this handwritten piece amongst Holland’s private papers (held at the National Library) when researching my Honours thesis in 2010, and it has not yet been published.]

As is fairly normal for me, in order to not freak out, I did not read anyone else’s biographies until after we were done. HOLY DOGBERRY!

Sixth and lastly, I felt a genuine camaraderie with the majority of the competitors and even walked away with a few new friends. They were just a really nice bunch of people, and for that I am grateful.

Thirdly, the two days’ worth of masterclasses on the preceding days, with the likes of Caroline Almonte, Merlyn Quaife, Prof. David Kram, and an industry panel with Alex Furman, Helen Noonan, Anne Frankenberg and David Hobson, were so incredibly inspiring to me – brutally honest, but inspiring all the same – that I had to force myself to go home and calm down on Friday night in order to sleep before the big semifinal day! I really must recommend that, for any singers in Melbourne (or if you are willing to travel), these masterclasses are open to the general public each time the competition runs, and were SO worthwhile going along to!

One of the most important pieces of wisdom which really resonated with me (amongst several!) was something from Caroline Almonte: “Let’s face it. Nowadays, music is a vocation. And so, without community, we have nothing……” I loved that she told us this at the beginning of a competition, and I am sure it went a long way to helping promote the lovely atmosphere which pervaded.

And, to conclude, the best thing about this particular competition was my lied partner, Leigh Harrold, who played for both Ayse Shanal and myself, and quite deservedly took out the first prize for the pianists. When I first spoke to Leigh about this we barely knew each other, and I felt rather forward even asking for a recommendation for a Melbourne pianist to work with. His suggestion that we do it together was the thing that galvanised me into actually entering the comp in the first place, and we have both since articulated that the fun part was getting to work on the whole program together, becoming proper friends in the process, and – BONUS! – getting to perform the whole program in the finals, as we had hoped we would.

So there you have it. Resilience, quality performances, camaraderie, inspiration from mentors and ideas, community, artistic partnership, and fun. Completely obvious, when I put it like that, why it was such a satisfying weekend of music-making.

And easy for me to see why, even though I wasn’t awarded the big prize, I have come away feeling more confident in myself and what I do than I have for a long time: because it is growing ever clearer that for me, music is all about community, and not about coming first. In an industry where opportunities are few, and we are often made to feel that our worth is relative, that is an idea that makes me happiest of all.

(Photos thanks to Laura Black)

My thoughts on the Awesomeness of Art Song: singing chickens and fainting strongmen

2/7/2014

I am very excited to announce that my accompanist, Leigh Harrold, and I have been chosen as one of eight semifinalists for the Mietta Song Competition, and that the competition will be held later this month in Melbourne. It's a great honour to be picked, as I am told that the competition this year was the fiercest it has ever been! Not that that is intimidating or anything.

The Miettas contacted all of the semifinalists to ask if we had any suggestions and ideas about how we can promote art song, particularly amongst younger audience members. Unfortunately for them, I had a whole damn manifesto!

They asked me if I could possibly summarise it into a short Youtube video, so here is my first attempt at any such thing. Please sit back and enjoy me making stupid connections and pulling funny faces (this is basically my normal mode of speech, to be honest....) while I discuss "Four Myths About Art Song".

Russian Repertoire with Sydney Independent Opera

11/6/2014

This weekend just past I had the pleasure of performing with Sydney Independent Opera, in a gala concert alongside their presentation of Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Mozart & Salieri”. It’s a clever, short piece based on Pushkin’s (entirely fictional) interpretation of the relationship between Mozart and his older colleague and sometime mentor, Salieri. Pinchgut Opera are currently preparing to perform Salieri’s “The Chimneysweep” next month in Sydney, and it is interesting to consider this now-marginalised composer and the struggles he must have gone through, being the contemporary of a certifiable genius (and therefore in competition with him).

The performances took place at the Russian Club in Strathfield, and were topped off with a Russian dinner buffet and vodka at the bar. I, together with three other beautiful Sydney singers – Qestra Mulqueeny, Rosa Krel and Christopher Nazarian – sang a collection of Russian arias and finished off the set with a Russian folk song, joined by members of the audience. Spasibo, SIO!