BY BRIDGET O’BRIEN
Musician. Actress. Artist. Storyteller. The apex of all creative pursuits is personified in Jacqueline Dark. (And on top of it all, she’s also a genius in physics.)
Jacqueline is an Australian mezzo-soprano whose career thus far has fulfilled the bucket-lists of so many aspiring singers, covering the spectrum from Wagner’s Fricka to Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Mother Abbess. She has wowed Australian audiences for years, continually interpreting famed staple roles to rapturous reception upon Opera Australia stages.
This singer has proven that while her roulette of genres (opera, theatre, cabaret, and contemporary classical) can demand grit and pathos, there’s always room for joy and candour.
Ahead of an upcoming performance in her home state of Victoria with the Syzygy Ensemble, Jacqueline spoke to us about her journey into music, the demands of such diverse work, and the passion that sustains it all. She will perform the Victorian premiere of Apollinaire Songs by Rosalind Page.
Your first career move was a Bachelor in Physics! Were you apprehensive to follow a career in music, or did the passion for opera performance strike you later on?
I have always sung – for as long as I can remember. It’s as natural to me as breathing. I was performing from a young age in my home town of Ballarat, so I always had singing going on at the same time as physics.
While I was studying my science degree, I was performing around town as a singer. While I was teaching physics and maths at a high school, I was travelling the hour-and-a-bit to Melbourne three nights a week to study at the Opera Studio at the Victorian College of the Arts (yes, I was young and had enormous stores of energy and passion – I couldn’t even imagine completing another degree in a different city whilst teaching full-time now).
When I started singing opera professionally, I was still teaching science part-time and up until this year wrote a Victorian trial exam for Year 12 physics.
Science and music have always travelled hand in hand for me – I’ve always done both at once, and it has always seemed the most natural thing in the world to transition from one to the other. The only real surprise was that I ended up singing opera – I am obsessed with musicals and always longed to perform in them, but my voice took me in a different direction. Luckily, now I am just as passionate about the glorious music I get to sing on the operatic stage.
You’ve since performed some of the most adored staple roles of Mozart, Verdi, and Bizet. What has drawn you to the genre of contemporary music, and particularly the pieces that haven’t yet been heard?
I have been so fortunate to sing some absolutely brilliant roles, and many of them are classics for very good reason – their music and stories are sublime! I treasure these roles every single time I sing them. I also love being challenged and pushing the boundaries of what I sing, and feel that it is incredibly important to perform new works which expand the repertoire and add fresh perspectives to the genre.
It is wonderfully exciting to perform works that are not often heard, and I love being able to present these to a new audience who might then be inspired to explore new directions in music for themselves.
How does it feel to perform the Victorian premiere of this new work by a female Australian composer?
I feel a huge sense of responsibility in performing this piece; a Victorian premiere. An Australian work. A female composer. It is so incredibly important that we champion these voices and cherish them.
I absolutely love singing Australian works and feel a massive sense of pride in our composers. I’m actually having a brilliant year of collaboration with great Aussie female composers, as I’m also performing in several projects with the brilliant Jessica Wells, and I could not be more thrilled.
I adore this piece – it has challenged me greatly, as it is very musically complex, but the poetry and music are just so gorgeous and evocative that it was worth all of the hard yakka…and the occasional swear word that may have slipped out during the learning process.
What have you had to alter about your approach to performance in vocal style and characterisation?
I’ve been so lucky to perform across a huge variety of different genres – opera, musical theatre, cabaret, concerts…and I’m of the firm belief that a solid classical technique serves every musical form well.
I’m definitely using a few grittier noises than I might in an opera performance, plus some quieter humming moments and a little judicious straight tone. It’s such a luxury not to have to project across a full orchestra in a big auditorium – you have an extremely wide palette of vocal colours to choose from in a more intimate concert situation, and I’ve been having a ball exploring different tonal qualities and effects.
In terms of characterisation, I always try to discover how the piece speaks to me and how I can bring my own experiences to interpreting it. One of the things I love most about singing is the magical connection where you can reach across the footlights and draw an audience into the performance and make them feel something, make them laugh or cry or think, and pull them out of the real world for a little while to live with us in ours. Hopefully, we’ll be able to have them drifting down the River Seine with us during this performance!
What is your favourite part about collaborating with other artists and performers?
I absolutely love collaborating with others. I would much rather perform with other people than as a solo artist. I’m a true extrovert and draw huge amounts of creative energy from interacting with others and creating as a team. It makes me so excited to be in a room with brilliant musicians all firing to capacity – just to let everyone shoot creative sparks out into the ether to see what fizzles and what flames. Often, one idea will ignite another and soon the room is aglow with wonder. I adore that process and cannot wait to see what Syzygy and I are going to create together with this piece. There are so many tiny moments which are so poignant, so many tiny instrumental and vocal gestures which fuse together to create one glorious whole, which truly is greater than the sum of its parts.
What’s the most crucial lesson you’ve learned in a life upon the stage?
Never forget why you do this. I love singing. It is a part of me, it’s who I am. Music has saved and broken my heart so many times over the years, but even when times were rocky (as they are in any performing career) I never lost sight of how much I loved to sing or how lucky I am to have the career I have had thus far. It’s a career that demands discipline, sacrifice and a very tough skin, but the payoff is performing the most sublime music in the world with genius colleagues and truly connecting and communicating with an audience. In those exquisite moments where it all just comes together, every sacrifice becomes utterly and entirely worth it.
The Sygyzy concert series presents a dedication to Debussy – what do you hope audiences will gain from hearing his Sonata for Cello and Piano alongside a program of new works?
I think the audience are in for an absolute treat. It is such an honour to perform with this extraordinary ensemble and I only hope I can rise up to meet their incredible musicianship.
I love that there are more well-known works being presented alongside new ones – it really does give the audience the opportunity to be immersed in a variety of styles and enjoy different voices and musical influences within the one concert. The best of all possible worlds!
Catch Jacqueline’s performance alongside the Syzygy Ensemble in Clair de Lune, 10 July at the Melbourne Recital Centre.
