Opera Works presents… Postcards

An ENO Opera Works production at the Lilian Baylis Studio, Sadler’s Wells

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Postcards is the culmination of the 2012 -13 Opera Works course and celebrates the achievements of the singers. Under  the guidance of Stephen Higgins and Martin Constantine, it features staged excepts from Mozart, Rossini, Bizet and Handel.

Devised by the company using tools acquired throughout their training with ENO, Postcards promises to showcase the ideas and talent of an exciting company of singers.

Performances

Thursday May 9 at 7.15pm

Friday May 10 at 5pm

Running time: approx 1hr 10mins

Lilian Baylis Studio, Sadler’s Wells, Rosebury Avenue, EC1R 4TN

Booking information

All tickets £10 (booking fees apply)
Tickets available from the ENO Box Office ONLY
Call 020 7845 9300 or book online using the following links:

Thursday 9 May

Friday 10 May

The Big Barber Bash

Imagine a fantasy world of gargantuan tigers, princesses and monstrous demons, and oversized Wizard of Oz style candy. This was the set of a unique experience, to which a staggering 450 people attended, 300 of them children, allowed to explore ENO’s home at their own free will. The Coliseum was turned into a huge theatrical playground where they could dress up in garments from past productions, have their faces painted and be accosted by some costumed Opera Works members who were in unshakeable character.

Then, the mini Violettas, Papagenos, kings and queens in jewelled crowns, and some sort of mystery pirate child were treated to a wealth of activity choice, including flamenco dancing, prop-building, backstage tours, sword flighting, sing-a-longs and, a great favourite, a percussion workshop. Even from the back of the theatre, one was blasted by a cacophony of crazy drum beats; the din only increased as one approached the orchestral pit, looking down on the gleeful culprits. The children were having a blast.

Some parents took refuge in a VIP area. Others, taking breaks from chasing after their cherubs, huddled together around the buffets of food and drink. Close by, scaled-down models of past ENO production sets were admiringly peered into and prodded.

The Opera Works singers who were not gracefully milling about, wistfully speaking of their characters’ lives as princesses or… courtesans… sang four duets on the stage (exciting!), in front of the iron, accompanied by Martin Fitzpatrick. As the excerpts from The Marriage of Figaro, Semele, Idomeneo and Cosi Fan Tutte were delivered, we were watched by jumping pairs of eyes as children, excitable and curious, scrambled up and down the aisles. It was a lot of fun.

The grand finale of the evening was an introduction to the world of The Barber of Seville: cast from the current production sang highlights to rapturous applause. The basic plot of the opera was explained so that it felt like the kids were being read a bed-time story, completely captivated.

The unfair stigma that is often attached to opera still exists. But projects like The Big Barber Bash encourage newcomers to give the experience a chance and enjoy themselves. Those children will grow up with a truly positive memory of their first time at the opera, bite-size as it was, without all the silly prejudices that can get in the way of making an honest judgement. We’re relying on their generation to buy the tickets in the future!

I only felt slightly for the parents: trying to put some hyperactive, giant lollipop and operatic-magic-induced sugar-high kids to bed on a Friday night.

Natasha Day

natashaday.co.uk

ENO Opera Works Share Their Love…

Soprano Natasha Day tells us about her experience singing at One Mayfair, for The Eve Appeal’s Valentine’s Ball.

ENO Opera Works baritone, Ian Beadle and I were invited to sing at The Eve Appeal’s Valentine’s Ball last week, representing Opera Works. The charity, which funds a world-class research programme in all five gynecological cancers, turned the venue One Mayfair into a sumptuous red and black dining room. HM Queen Anne-Marie of Greece, The Eve Appeal’s Royal Patron, was in attendance and the guests were entertained by Jo Brand later in the evening.

We watched in awe as generous bids in the silent auction were posted on the main screen above, guests bidding away in between mouthfuls of their splendid dinner. Lots included works by Chagall, Picasso and Miro (all conveniently displayed in the area where the singers were waiting), luxury yacht holidays, epic country house parties and, most importantly, donations to fund a specific element of Eve Appeal research.

Ian and I sang ‘Bella siccome un angelo’, ‘O mio babbino caro’ (both in English, of course!) and ‘Bess, you is my woman now’, which went down particularly well with our attentive audience.

A glass of champagne later, we were back on chilly Oxford Street, content that we had done something to support such a worthy cause.

Natasha Day

natashaday.co.uk

Lecoq, Laban and Layering… Input and Response Weekend 2

Donna Lennard reflects on our second module: 

Singers are constantly instructed and reminded that our instrument doesn’t consist of just the biological construct of our voice. To be able to sing, one must use their entire body. Not in an overtly obvious way, of course, but the body must be engaged and energised.

When it comes to opera, a singer also has the task of becoming a character and portraying them through their body whilst allowing it to be in the best possible state to sing. A surprisingly difficult task when you consider that the ideal posture for singing is upright, grounded, with an open chest and relaxed neck and shoulders. Surely then, a character on their death bed would therefore be impossible to portray whilst singing. Thank goodness for the suspension of disbelief… People attend the opera expecting that they will enter a world where almost every word that is uttered is sung, and that is entirely normal. It is the singers job, therefore, to make those characters believable and truthful, helped greatly by what they say with their body.

The Input weekend within this module focused very clearly on the physical and how bodily movements can inform an emotional state, even an entire character. The Saturday session was led by co-founder of Complicite, Marcello Magni. With a serious focus on the physical informing the mental (or emotional), we worked on postural alignment, moments of suspension, and Lecoq’s 7 levels of tension. On Sunday, we worked with Olga Masleinnikova; choreographer, director and performance maker. Her ideas were based on the work of Rudolf Laban and consequent choreological studies. The focus again was on the body, but more importantly its relationship to movement and the space around it. She made us examine the ways in which we move and why; what feels organic, or natural, and inorganic.

Both highly experienced practitioners demonstrated that while what we may do impulsively as performers may feel natural and the right thing to do, it’s interesting to explore alternative ways of moving that give you options when creating a character. Furthermore, it releases you from habitual physical tendencies and allows you to push the boundaries of what our bodies feel comfortable doing. It may work, it may not, but it’s the exploration and experimentation that’s important.

The Response weekend helped us to put these ideas into practise, with the help of director Martin Constantine, repetiteur Robert Bottriell, and conductor Christian Curnyn. I had been given the role of Belinda from Dido & Aeneas and the first scene from Act 1. The initial challenges for this scene were to decipher the old English, and to attempt to unravel the complex story of Dido as of Virgil’s Aeneid, which the opera was based upon. Once that had been achieved, I then set about completing our ‘homework’ - to find questions, pictures and an appropriate animal that would suit our character, to name but a few of the many tasks set to us. The aim of the weekend, of course, was to ‘respond’ to the input weekend, allowing us to be free for the most part to apply any of the techniques we had learnt to our scene. As the Dido was double cast, this allowed me to try out different ideas with two different Queens. The advice and guidance given by all three professionals was extremely helpful and insightful throughout the weekend.

As always, I found that there are so many options available to you as a performer when approaching a character, but what was emphasised is that it’s about choosing what’s appropriate and layering techniques to create a more three-dimensional, interesting person. I initially saw Belinda to be a spritely, optimistic and keen little sister - I’d initially taken her on face value. As the weekend progressed, simply by layering alternative physical attributes with music and text, I discovered that this interpretation didn’t feel quite right. She in fact felt to be of a higher status to Dido, and could be a little more serious as if she were a bit fed up of Dido’s permanent melancholy and unnecessary secrecy. Each interpretation may be right; there is no right or wrong answer. Some just fit a little better depending on your personal preferences, and how the other characters are interpreted. It was fascinating to find that it was exploring her physical state (along with the advice of Martin and Christian) that helped me to discover an interpretation that I hadn’t initially considered.

Overall discovery? To be an opera singer, you shouldn’t be scared of using your body and physical movements to create your character - don’t be afraid to experiment. Working with many different directors will inevitably mean that they want different things so you must be open-minded and willing to dismiss antiquated ideas of how opera is meant to be performed. Well, that’s another story…

ENO Opera Works: a reflection so far…

As we are drawing close to the application deadline for ENO Opera Works 2013/14 course, Melanie Long, mezzo-soprano on this year’s course, talks about her experience so far…

“If anyone had ever said to me that on my journey I would find myself residing in England and re-orienting my training to mezzo-soprano repertoire, I’d have been rendered completely dazed and confused.  Yet, in the past 18 months, I have moved from New York City to England and changed Fach from soprano to mezzo-soprano. It was my hope that ENO Opera Works would be an opportunity to get to know myself in my new repertoire while adjusting to living on another continent, and also to quietly observe the industry in this unfamiliar part of the world. So far, so good, as the course has done all of that and a great deal more.

ENO Opera Works casts twenty singers, all of us unique in our talents and walks of life. We are a diverse group who are exceedingly abundant in our capacity to offer one another experiences and interactions to learn and draw inspiration from. Amongst us all there is a very unique support system in place that transcends compliments or constructive criticism. In fact there is no criticism, only exploration.

The course is unbiased and non-discriminatory.  There are no date-of-birth limitations.  There is no preference or tendency toward particular voices or even a number cap on each voice type. We function as a company.  We are colleagues, work-shopping for the love of the game and the good of our art.  There is no agenda on the part of ENO regarding what is in it for them or what they can get out of us throughout our committed season. On the contrary, ENO Opera Works is very simply about what ENO can do for you. It’s more genuinely all about you than I have ever seen in this business. The course provides an open door into ENO and all its resources.

We are supported by mentors who are excited not only about our talent, our voices and our abilities, but also our minds and our individual creative purpose.  Our relationship with the directors is collaborative and the result is an environment which is simultaneously nurturing and professional. 

‘Practice makes perfect’ as they say, and for me the best way to learn is to go out and do; to get on the stage and just do it. Perform. That’s where it all happens and where we all want to be. Everything I have to give has come predominantly out of my professional, main stage experience where I have been able to put my check-list of skills to work and into action on the stage and in rehearsal. ENO Opera Works is the only developmental opportunity I am aware of in or outside of academia that provides the immeasurable experience, reward and progression of being on stage throughout. While there are performance opportunities and of course the grand finale end-of-year-performance, ENO Opera Works offers the profoundly beneficial circumstance to use and practice our skills in a safe and non-judgemental environment.

To date we’ve intensively explored the methods of Stanislavsky, Lecoq and Laban to name a few. We have worked with master practitioners and theatre revolutionaries whose perspective is vast and impartial to medium. It is a revelation to apply their techniques to opera, pushing boundaries and restraints. There is a constant reiteration that possibilities are limitless and always evolving. In an industry which is growing more unpredictable by the day, with more singers than there have ever been (all of whom fit for the task), competition is fierce and it behooves us to be versatile. As performers, if we don’t have an inherent frame of reference for something, we need to be able to understand our instrument well enough to study and bring that thing to life. That requires not only imagination but tools, and the knowledge of how to use them which comes from introduction and exposure, awareness and study, application and practice. ENO Opera Works abides by this formula giving us weapons, if you will, that we’re not afraid to use because we know how.  

Most important to me has been the way that ENO Opera Works has seen me through my Fach change. I’ve had access to everything from mentorship and advice from the professionals at ENO, to main stage dress rehearsals, to guided self-exploration and the feedback of brilliant peers. I am feeling more comfortable in my own shoes than ever before. I have a strong and clear knowledge of my repertoire, and how it pertains to who I am and what I have to give right now. I’ve been able to find what fits like a glove, vocally and in my soul but also what challenges me and still further, how to approach and take on a challenge thoughtfully, effectively, artfully. 

For the past decade I’ve spent all of my time either in a practice room or in class; tap, classical ballet, theatre dance, musical theatre acting, straight acting, monologue coaching, role preparation, stage combat, vocal coaching and lessons and the list goes on. What I wasn’t taking the time to explore is how these things come together within me, my artistry, my voice and my expression, how they serve my craft or how they serve each other.  ENO Opera Works has been an opportunity for my knowledge and skills to settle and re-organize so that I can take them off of the material check-list and embody them as part of my Self. By the end of the course in a few short months I look forward to being more professional than I have ever been; ready, and set to go.”  

The deadline for ENO Opera Works 2013/14 course is Monday 11 February 2013. You can find out more information and details of how to apply on the ENO website here.

Our first public performance!

Recently some of our singers performed in the lovely St Martin’s Courtyard in Covent Garden, as part of a Christmas shopping event. Here are some photos from the evening…

Ian Beadle, Hannah Mason, Donna Lennard, Harriet Kirk, Cathy Zhang and Felicity Buckland braving the cold in St Martin’s Courtyard!

Endless possibilities

Last week, Opera Works singer Sophie Yelland went to see a performance of Nick Payne’s Constellations at the Duke of York’s Theatre. Here Sophie reflects upon her experience of the play following the completion of ENO Opera Works Module 1…

After a morning watching ENO’s wonderful revival of The Mikado, I could not have spent my afternoon in a more contrasting theatre piece than at the understudy performance of Constellations, an amazing play by Nick Payne currently playing at the Duke of York’s Theatre. This play had enormous impact on me intellectually, emotionally and spiritually. It was performed superbly by Laura Cairns & Simon Darwen, whom we saw delivering almost the same lines repeatedly but in extremely different ways and circumstances. We met the two characters when they began their relationship and followed its twists and turns, dealing with the issue of quantum mechanics and the fact that our lives can move in countless directions with endless possibilities, depending on our choices.

As we have been studying on the ENO Opera Works Course, I was particularly impressed by the many choices of actions flying all over the stage by just these two people, as they wove themselves through all the many routes a relationship can take. It struck me yet again how changing one’s intention and action can utterly convert and, at times, invert one’s meaning or understanding of a line on a page. I also noticed each repetition of a scene had different points of concentration, a term introduced to me by admired theatre director Mike Alfreds, which also added to the layers and made it even more thrilling as an audience member. I found myself not wanting the play to end, as I felt the can of interpreting worms had only just been unsealed and I wanted it to be blown wide open. In this way the play left me questioning life as much as the characters had been and was a reminder to always live in the moment and to the full. This play was a lesson for me both dramatically and psychologically, achieving all that good theatre is supposed to.

Sophie Yelland

Image sourced from www.royalcourttheatre.com