BY ALEXANDRA MATHEW
For the second time in the history of the company, Pinchgut Opera will travel to Melbourne for an exclusive performance. On 6 April, the company will perform Bach’s magnificent Easter Oratorio, and give the Australian premiere of Telemann’s Thunder Ode.
We chat with soprano soloist Alexandra Oomens, and mezzo soprano soloist Anna Dowsley, about the joys of performing baroque repertoire in a concert setting; the excitement of musical life in London; and intricacies of adapting one’s voice for different repertoire.
Alexandra and Anna, you are both paving international careers on the operatic stage. Are there any advantages (or perhaps even difficulties) of presenting a dramatic oratorio in a concert setting, as opposed to a fully staged opera with lighting, costumes, sets, and action?
ANNA: Performing in a concert setting has many advantages as a singer. While I love performing on the operatic stage and delving into all the fun elements of costume, set, and drama, there is something very satisfying about concert work where you step back and focus completely and utterly on the music and the ensemble with the other musicians. There is a freedom created musically when you perform with the ‘band’ around you, and a sense that music is made completely as one.
The closest an operatic performer has to this is the always highly anticipated ‘Sitzprobe’ when after weeks of rehearsal with piano, singers finally meet the orchestra and rehearse the score without action and staging.
However, with concert repertoire, we are always in this same space as the band. I always look forward to concert work for this reason.
ALEXANDRA: It’s a completely different kind of performance. I don’t see that there are any disadvantages, so much as different things to consider. When you are in an operatic production, so much energy goes into ‘physicalising’ the story. The beauty of performing in a concert setting is that you have the opportunity to really focus on the music in a different way. You are often, by proximity, more connected to the orchestra, the other singers, and the conductor; and when there is no physical action, the drama of the music relies on how you communicate with the music in front of you, and the artists around you.
Anna, congratulations on making your debut with Pinchgut. As an Opera Australia regular, performing Gounod and Donizetti, what’s it like moving into earlier repertoire such as Telemann and Bach?
ANNA: I am very excited about performing with Pinchgut opera for the first time. This is a company I have admired from afar for a long time, and I love the diverse repertoire they bring to Sydney (and now Melbourne!) audiences.
It is a luxury to have the opportunity as a singer to explore this less-performed repertoire. Pinchgut and other smaller Australian arts companies are filling a void by introducing and showcasing less-heard, yet equally important and cherished, music to Australian audiences.
Do you have to adapt your voice and style for this repertoire, and is it an area that you wish to explore further?
ANNA: A singer can always play around with colour, style, and approach, depending on a performance situation and repertoire. This can even depend on pragmatic things, such as the acoustic of a theatre or the size of the orchestra. However, a singer can never affect their instrument’s natural timbre or size, as this is something you must stay true to. As long as text and style comes first and foremost, the voice will do the rest of the ‘adapting’.
I am always looking for varied performance opportunities so I can play around with different styles; be it early music, art song with piano, or operatic repertoire. There is too much great repertoire throughout the centuries to not try and explore it all!
Alexandra, you’re making a special trip to Australia for this concert, taking time out of your studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London. What is musical life like in London, both inside and outside of music college?
ALEXANDRA: London is such an extraordinarily vibrant and diverse city, with a musical agenda and atmosphere to match. I have loved my time at the academy and, now that I am about to commence my final term, I am all the more grateful for all of the opportunities it has provided me.
The past few weeks have been extremely busy: we closed a production of L’enfant et les sortilèges by Ravel just days ago, and are already in production for Janacek’s Cunning Little Vixen. Vixen will be my final role with the Royal Academy Opera, but already this year I have had the great privilege of singing the title role in the academy’s production of Semele, conducted by Laurence Cummings.
In July this year, when my studies come to a close, I will be fully immersed in the world of a freelance artist, and will hopefully be able to enjoy the many musical opportunities the United Kingdom has to offer.
Alexandra, it has been a few years since your last Pinchgut performance. What is it like returning to the company after time spent studying in London?
ALEXANDRA: It is always such a privilege to come back to Australia and work with Pinchgut. It’s been three-and-a-half years since my last performance with the company, and I feel I have so much more to bring to the table.
I am so looking forward to working with Erin and the other artists, and to performing this beautiful music with them.
On that note, how is it to return to home soil for a special concert such as this?
ALEXANDRA: I truly cherish any opportunity to perform at home in Australia and, in particular, an opportunity to perform with Pinchgut.
The introduction of this concert series is another new and exciting way for Pinchgut to bring the lesser-known and beautiful music of the past to a wider modern audience.
I know that there are many long-time Pinchgut-goers who live in Melbourne, and who come up to Sydney to see each production. It is so lovely to have the opportunity to take this music beyond Sydney and to reach more of the people who love this repertoire.
Alexandra and Anna, your performance of Telemann’s Thunder Ode is an Australian premiere. What can audiences expect of this work?
ANNA: Australian audiences will be introduced to an exciting work showcasing five solo voices intermingled with jubilant chorus movements (in Pinchgut’s version performed with one voice per part). I have a little gem of an aria, the mezzo voice pairing with the gorgeous sound of the oboe, an instrument I always adore listening to and singing with.
ALEXANDRA: I have always loved Bach’s Easter Oratorio, but it wasn’t until I was invited to take part in these concerts that I came across the Telemann. I am thrilled to be a part of the performance that brings this beautiful work to Australia for the first time.
This is a truly magnificent work, filled with many vibrant arias and powerful ensembles. The work is known to have been hugely successful in Telemann’s own lifetime, and I hope that it will be just as well-received over 250 years after its first performance.
Head along to this Pinchgut Opera performance of Bach and Telemann at 7pm April 6 in Elisabeth Murdoch Hall.
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