BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
Since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, the entire nature of our industry has shifted — seemingly overnight — with artists forced to abandon their live events and projects.
But despite such mass cancellations, musicians are proving they have the power to take some control over what can only be described as a horrendous situation — and adapt with ingenuity, determination, and creativity.
In this interview series, we document the COVID-19 impact on the Australian arts industry while facilitating a candid discussion about what it is like to work during this difficult time. We hope this series will bring hope and solidarity to our creative community – things we need now more than ever.
Here, we chat with Sylvie Woods. Sylvie was our very own Lead Writer (NSW), before she was whisked away into full-time communications work alongside her music career (her CutCommon successor the equally talented Miranda Ilchef.). Sylvie has an illustrious singing career, having performed solo at the Sydney Opera House, City Recital Hall, and on television and radio broadcast.
Despite the closures of such venues due to COVID-19, Sylvie is determined not to let her arts career suffer. In fact, she is singing as part of a new Rooftop Opera series in her local Potts Point, leading to some interesting professional opportunities post-COVID-19. And she’s even gone viral on TikTok.
Sylvie, as far as COVID-19 lockdowns go, you’ve shown that nothing will stop you from pursuing your career dreams as a musician. In fact, you’re literally singing from the rooftops.
As they have around the world, COVID-19 restrictions brought a hush over Potts Point. When that happened, my partner said he had been speaking to our wonderful friends Lou Hunt and Portland Georgiou who run the café downstairs. They were filming David Carroll — who is a Potts Point tenor and friend of theirs; now a friend of mine! — singing from their rooftop, overlooking both aspects of the suburb, as a way to keep the community in good spirits.
My partner and Portland suggested I become involved, and after a little reluctance, I began singing from the rooftops because it was something to look forward to and to practise for.
Prior to COVID-19, I have been working full time in copywriting — writing is my other love — and wasn’t singing and making as much music as usual.
So how many people would you estimate are listening to you singing Rooftop Opera — and why is it meaningful that you’re making this connection with them, despite the distance (and the height)?
The girls from Joseph Hyde cafe, who are organising and filming it, have been spreading the word. So you could safely say that anyone who hasn’t actually heard the singing in Potts Point has heard about it.
Things get around fast in this suburb, because you’ve got these certain cafes and bars and shops that are community hubs. The florist has come up to me about it, the baker, as have others. So that’s some indication that people are listening! I would say if you’ve been shopping local during this pandemic, you know about it.
Numbers of people tuning into the live stream vary from week to week, but it’s always in the hundreds, and many are visible on the street or on their balconies. I think the rooftop singing is meaningful not just because it’s providing entertainment in lieu of that which we’d get at the concert hall or theatre, but meaningful because there’s something so beautiful and human about adapting: we’ll work within the rules, but get creative so that live music doesn’t have to stop!
How would you describe the way your urban landscape — the dense apartment-style living of Potts Point — has afforded you music opportunities during lockdowns?
Because the way the suburb is set up is so intimate, you develop a wonderful connection with your neighbours. I’m doing Balcony Serenades in another area of Potts Point now: the stage is an enormous courtyard, closed in by four walls of balconies, and the acoustics are so good. I am hoping that at these community events, more and more people will hear me sing, and as a result consider me for their party, wedding, production, recording, whatever!
My publicising of Rooftop Opera on social media has been great for future bookings. People are getting in touch about weddings and all sorts of events, now and in the future. And I’m only too happy to perform, so long as everyone feels safe.
When we were chatting about your work prior to this interview, you drew a comparison between your balcony and rooftop singing and the way people have also been singing into the streets of Italy during isolation. Why are people so desperate to unite through singing, to the extent that you’re personally securing regular live performances without even leaving your front door?
My primary school music teacher used to say: ‘Every instrument strives to be as beautiful as the human voice.’ People find song, as an artform, more compelling than other artforms. It might be that people are captivated by the singer exposing themselves in the way they must — there’s nothing between you and your audience, like there might be with a piano or a violin. But I think there’s something in what my primary school music teacher said. I think the human voice is just a fantastic instrument.
Beyond unexpected opportunities arising from physical performances, you’ve also had some success on TikTok! Tell us a bit about that platform — why you use it, and why it’s been useful for your music career.
A few different mates stumbled across a particular trending TikTok video captioned ‘Potts Point during lockdown’, which was indeed a video of David and I singing, taken by someone — a local, presumably — with a glass of wine describing the frequency of the opera performances. It has more than 65,000 views at the moment.
From my understanding, the joke [intended in this video] is that it’s not all that tough in suburbs like Potts Point during COVID-19. This is true, for in my opinion Potts Point is the best suburb of the world. The point I would make about that, however, is while much of Potts Point is affluent, the reason why this is happening is because our community is tight-knit and artistically vibrant. We care about creativity and celebrate it. Opera pours from the rooftop in Potts Point because we support our small businesses and each other; we rejoice at our differences, and go about life with an open mind.
Rooftop Opera is the sort of delightful cultural activity that arises spontaneously when creative people feel supported. I am too sensitive and nervous to, myself, march up to a rooftop and begin singing. I am fortunate to be surrounded by friends in this suburb who, quite literally, pulled me up there; and am also fortunate to receive so much acknowledgement, encouragement, and praise from my neighbours! This keeps me going.
The first stanza of my favourite Emily Dickinson poem We Never Know How High We Are conveys perfectly what success and happiness can come our way as a consequence of people believing in us:
We never know how high we are Till we are called to rise; And then, if we are true to plan, Our statures touch the skies.
What unexpected collaborations have arisen for you in this time of self-isolation and social distancing?
There is a wonderfully talented photographer called John Janson Moore, who has been capturing socially distanced community activities during this time. He came to the rooftop performance one Sunday and photographed the singing, as well as those looking on.
I’ve also been filming, with friends, some of our favourite songs, and posting the results on social media. I have set up an at-home studio in order to do this. I’ve wanted an at-home studio for a while, but haven’t been able to afford it until now. I am having a lot of fun with it. It cost me a great sum of money. It was worth it.
So what else are you up to — musical and non-musical?
Last week, I got engaged to someone who is deeply and unconditionally supportive of me and my singing, and everything else I do. So I guess that is something musical and non-musical!
I have also been doing a lot of gardening.
At the end of the day, I find a lot of hope in your story — hope for musicians who may be struggling to see how they can get through COVID-19 at all. Our arts industry has faced arguably its worst challenges in recent history, with a lot of mental and financial hardship felt on a massive scale. With all this in mind, why have you found it in your spirit to keep fighting for your music career? And, considering you’ve done so admirably, what advice or words of hope would you give to others to help them in their career during COVID-19, too?
There are so many different challenges that artists face, namely that there is more social clout to be gained at places like a conservatorium for doing one thing only, and doing it really, really well. But some people weren’t meant to do just one thing. There is more happiness and fulfilment to be had, for many, in exploring their breadth of potential and pursuing other interests. This can also help to meet that financial baseline we all have to keep an eye on.
I have friends who were laughed at for making money at certain gigs that weren’t ‘serious enough’ — while their amused, ‘serious’ counterparts were living off their parents or others in order to maintain their ‘serious’ musical reputation. In Sydney, where there are so many different challenges that artists face, it is a very difficult matter for a young musician, with no business acumen, to try to make a full-time living off the one area in music that fulfils them.
As an aside, I hold the years of Sydney lockout laws somewhat responsible for the tedium of trying to earn a full-time living as an artist in Sydney, in the sense that those restrictions and curfews facilitated mass video gaming instead of going out; mass swiping on Bumble and Tinder instead of meeting new people at bars and at concerts; and a penchant for ordering luxurious UberEats meals. In these situations, musicians are losing out having a gig, and developing networks, business skills, and performance confidence.
There will always be another reason to give up, particularly as the Australian government takes a declining interest in artists. You have low job security. People don’t want to pay you a lot of the time. Getting a gig is hard. Negotiating on behalf of yourself is hard. Figuring out whether someone is trying to offer you work or romance or friendship is hard, and there’s no HR department to go to when things go wrong. The personal comments are horrible. Everyone being an expert on how you can ‘make it’ is hard. Everyone being an expert on why you’re not ‘making it’ is hard, too.
With all this in mind, the advice I’d give to those struggling with their COVID-19 arts career is: do not let trying to make a living from one area make you embittered, and want to quit music. All artists’ situations are so unique, but at the moment I’m thriving because I have balance in my life. There have been times during my life when I’ve only been friends with musicians, and have thought the meaning of success was chasing one single part of music and making that fuel everything else. But that’s just not true; it hasn’t been true for me. I’m not made up that way. I’m having such a wonderful time making music at the moment because I’m exploring my range.
Right now, I’m living for the moment, thinking about how lucky I am, watering my plants, and enjoying the music.
What does this story mean to you?
If you like, you can shout us a coffee as we volunteer our time for Australian arts journalism during the COVID-19 crisis. No amount too much or little, and any amount appreciated.
[purchase_link id=”12246″ text=”Add to Cart” style=”button” color=”red”]
Catch up on our exclusive COVID-19 careers series through our interview with Ensemble Apex conductor Sam Weller.
Images supplied.
Pay what you like via PayPal.
