Easter Break Update | Life in London

Ravenscourt Park & The Royal Albert Hall steps

I can’t say I feel guilty for having a cool beer in the balmy London weather as my spring semester at The Royal College of Music has been chock-full yet utterly fruitful.

In January, on arrival back in London, I was thrown into Spring Opera Scenes rehearsals with my Masters colleagues. Cast in the part of Clorinda from Rossini’s La Cenerentola, I performed the opening 10 minutes of the opera wedged into a stripy leotard lunging about the stage. I won’t continue to decorate what must be a rather interesting image in your head at this moment but you can read more about my experience in my last post.

In March, my dear friend and song partner, Addy Stoiber and I worked on Schoenberg’s Brett-lieder (I & III) with Roger Vignoles in preparation for Roger’s lunchtime concert at The Royal College of Music entitled America Calls! Berlin to Broadway. The programme focused on the songs of Korngold, Weill and Schoenberg, composers who left Germany and sought refuge in America at the time of the Nazi regime. Galathea and Der genügsame Liebhaber (The easily satisfied lover) are Schoenberg’s first and third lieder from the Brettl-lieder. Both erotic songs, Addy and I focused on how best to portray the passion Schoenberg had woven into the piece using the combination of voice and piano. Despite the graphic text, I felt a strange sense of release at conveying the aroused character of the lieder and absolutely no feeling of embarrassment so much so that Addy and I grabbed a selfie afterwards.

Later than month, I received a distinction for my Song Assessment in which I prepared a selection of German lieder and French mélodie. I began with Jedem das Seine (VI) a slightly less raunchy number from the Brettl-lieder followed by Die Spröde and Die Bekehrte by Wolf; two songs that convey the youth of ‘the coy one’ and her latter adult years as ‘the repentant one’. I concluded my exam with La Coccinelle by Saint-Saëns, Fleurs by Poulenc and Koechlin’s Le Thé and while it was a lovely way to end my semester, I really appreciated the positivity towards my lieder interpretation.

Next semester, in RCM’s Masters Summer Opera Scenes, I will be playing Aminta from Mozart’s Il re pastore alongside the delightful Claire Swale (Elisa) in the duet Vanne a regnar, ben mio. I am also thrilled to be covering the role of The Elegant Lady in The Royal College of Music’s Summer Opera Les Mamelles de Tiresias by Poulenc in June.

With every opportunity that comes my way at The Royal College of Music, I am continually grateful for the support, kindness and honesty that’s shown to me as the year progresses. I am greatly looking forward to what the summer semester will hold but for now I’m off to devour a creme egg.