BY JOSEPH ASQUITH, LEAD WRITER (EDUCATION)
Australian soprano Jessica Blunt has made her dream of taking her career to London a reality – all the more impressive during a global pandemic.
Having studied at the Sydney Conservatorium — picking up a scholarship on the way before participating in educational programs across Europe and the United States — Jessica is now forging an impressive global pathway in music.
With no return ticket, she’s starting from scratch in her new corner of the world. We sit down with Jessica in Covent Garden, London, to chat with her about what it’s like to chase your dreams, no matter where they take you.
Well done on making it over here in such a time as this! How have you settled into London life?
Thank you! Leaving Australia mid-pandemic was quite the feat! It’s been a month, and I’m loving it. I’ve dreamed of living here since I was a teenager, so to be studying here is a pinch-myself moment and doesn’t quite feel real yet.
It’s odd to think there is no ‘return plane ticket’, and this isn’t just a holiday or a summer opera program – this is life! The pace of the city, and sheer number of people – especially after months of quiet lockdown in Australia – have been quite the adjustment.
I’m living in a postgraduate residential college, which has made meeting people easier, and the community here is so varied – people studying things from archaeology to law, and from all over the world.
What drew you to London, and specifically the Royal Academy of Music?
London is such a huge city overflowing with history and opportunity, especially when it comes to classical music and opera. In my first couple of weeks, I’ve been to two operas at Covent Garden, four recitals, and a musical, as well as performed in a concert myself.
As for the Royal Academy of Music, I spoke with a lot of mentors in the industry, and decided study would be the best first step to setting up in the United Kingdom and Europe, as well as polishing my instrument and taking my voice to the next level.
The Royal Academy is one of the top music schools in the world, and I knew studying there would set me up for a career as a singer – both as a musician and as a person. The quality of teaching, the opportunities to perform, and the industry professionals we get to work with daily are of such a high quality and will help me take that next step as a singer.
I think this is especially important after having moved to the other side of the world, and having to start from scratch when it comes to your network, your team, and building who you are as a singer.
We are both Newcastle musicians, two of many who have gone international. There’s certainly something about the culture in Newcastle, which is so supportive of all kinds of music.
I found my love of performing in two different places in Newcastle. My love for music began with the Australian Waratah Girls’ Choir, who I first sang with when I was 7 years old! I found my love for acting and storytelling at Young People’s Theatre, and eventually combined the two of those passions and found opera.
Newcastle is a great size – it’s not too big and not too small – for fostering young musicians, and we tend to look out for our own.
My first singing teacher in Newcastle was instrumental in my development as a young soprano. Countless other teachers and mentors in my life also lifted and pushed me to be the best I could be, and I wouldn’t have made it nearly this far without that support.
I think Newcastle also has an ethos of hard work, probably stemming from its working-class history. We are hardworking, dedicated people, and that is a quality every good musician needs.
What memories of your own music education have had a lasting impact on you as a professional performing artist?
I will always remember sitting in a music class at St Francis Xavier’s College in Newcastle, and discovering I had synaesthesia – a neurological condition where the brain assigns each letter of the alphabet, and numbers, a colour, among other cool things. My teacher was explaining ‘tone colour’ and how music can’t actually have a ‘colour’, and I realised I saw that it did! Soprano voices were blue, and soft.
I have now created a shortcut for learning operatic roles by using my synaesthesia in a colour-coordinated code to memorise music and language as fast as I can. I learnt three huge soprano opera roles – about 450 pages of music each role – in just six months!
We’re out of lockdown in London now. Fingers crossed it stays that way! What excites you most about being here at this time?
After the past pandemic, the 1920s brought such a huge boom of innovation, creativity, and inspiration, especially in the musical world. I hope a similar thing will happen in ‘our’ ‘20s. After being denied music, and performance, for nearly two years, audiences are craving it! It is exciting to now be in a city at the forefront of that, and to be right in the thick of it as a singer.
I’m excited to attend as many concerts, operas, performances as I can – you learn so much through watching and listening. I’m also excited to explore the city in general and have experiences, and learn about myself and how I can overcome challenges and be resilient in this big new city. All these wonderful life experiences that I can eventually draw on as a performer to make my performances more real and truthful.
In such a perilous time for the world, what role do you think live performance has in bringing hope to people?
One of the things that draws me to performing is the sense of connection music brings to people. Whether that connection is between myself and my pianist, the orchestra, the other people onstage, or the audience, live performance brings people together in a way Zoom can’t. The pandemic has highlighted new ways of communicating and presenting music, but there’s something so special about the ‘moment’ of live music that can’t be replaced by recordings or screens. To know that the performers and audience are all in the same room, in the same moment, experiencing something together, is special.
That shared human experience ultimately brings hope and understanding of each other as human beings. That’s why operas have lasted hundreds of years. Fundamentally, they tell stories about humanity that are still relevant today, no matter how unreal or grand they may be.
The first opera I saw in London, Verdi’s Rigoletto, I just sobbed through the bows, because the feeling of the whole audience applauding at once after this shared experience was overwhelming.
Do you have any projects you’re working on at the moment?
Having only just moved, my main project has been focusing on settling in and knowing where I am! My new teacher here has already introduced so many new things and really taken my singing to the next level already, and it will take some time to adjust technically.
I’m thinking about my plans for next year, sending out applications to auditions, young artist programs, and studios.
I’m really excited to see where my voice takes me!
Keep up to date with Jessica and her career on Facebook.
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About the writer
Completing his Bachelor of Music (Honours) in 2015 at the University of Newcastle (Australia), Joseph wrote an acclaimed 78-page dissertation which focused on the interplay between ‘Music and Zeitgeist’ under the supervision of musicologist/harpsichordist Rosalind Halton. He also studies and performs a plethora of genres including baroque, classical, romantic, folk and contemporary as a soloist and ensemble member.
Joseph has received piano tutelage from esteemed Australian pianists including Marilyn Wilson (Newcastle), Andrew Chubb (Newcastle), Clemens Leske (Sydney), and Michael Kieran-Harvey (Hobart). He spent time at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in 2016, where he was mentored by celebrated pianist/musicologist Paul Hersh (USA). In 2019 and 2020, he attended the piano music festival Music at Château d’Aix in the South of France, studying closely with pianists Paul Roberts (UK) and Martin Sturfält (Sweden).
Joseph is a passionate teacher, having obtained a Masters of Teaching with Distinction (Secondary) in 2017 from the University of Newcastle. He has taught in an array of schools, as a classroom and peripatetic teacher, in New South Wales and also in England. Joseph currently lives in London, where he is appointed as Head of Music at an OFSTED-Outstanding Secondary Girls School.
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