Opera Dialogues

Taken to galleries, theatres and the opera by her parents, Christine Chibnall's love for music was also nurtured at South Hampstead High School for girls, before she moved to Brighton and found herself planning the cultural schedule of her friends. After studying English at University, she realised she could combine her career with her passion by finding a job in the performing arts. After sending countless letters, Christine found herself interviewing for a PA role at Welsh National Opera despite having no typing skills. She ended up not only as a PA but doing almost everything else, from payroll, to chaperoning children, to starting the Education department, to development and fundraising and organizing small-scale tours. Having worked from the ground up, Christine was well-placed to move into her role as Director of Planning for Opera North, where she founded the department from scratch, bringing schedules and structure to the work around her. Christine chats with Nina about negotiating her way through the industry, her in-depth experience of the British operatic scene and shares her tips for what not to do in her auditions.

Multi award-winning soprano Angel Blue is known for the beautiful timbre of her voice and her captivating stage presence. Gracing many of the world's most prestigious stages over the last years, Angel is becoming an icon of her generation. The daughter of a pastor, she grew up in California listening to both gospel and opera and was determined from a young age to make it as an opera singer. To support her training, Angel performed in beauty pageants winning Miss Hollywood among other titles, and learned valuable lessons in self-worth along the way. After a devastating tour of auditions led to one rejection after another, in despair she turned to her mother and her faith for support, which enabled her to turn a corner at a crucial moment in her career. With determination she built on success after success, not only singing at the highest level but presenting concerts and competitions many of us know and love such as the BBC Proms and Cardiff Singer of The World, alongside founding her own YouTube channel, and last week she accepted the Grammy for the best Opera Recording for Porgy & Bess at the Metropolitan Opera.

Picking out notes on the piano with her mother before she could even talk, Jessica started her music training young and was on the path to becoming a professional organist. However, the onset of carpal tunnel syndrome put an abrupt stop to her plans, and the deep loss turned her to law as an alternative. Her pull towards music won out, and she returned as a conductor, with a lot of catching up to do. Jessica has a form of synaesthesia and experiencing music through colour gives her a vivid, sometimes overwhelming experience that informs the way she works. The first woman to study conducting at the Royal Academy of Music in London for over a decade, she is now a multi award-winning conductor who works all over the world from symphony orchestras, to the BBC Proms to world premieres at the Royal Opera House. The Scotsman describes her as 'cool, contained, articulate and engaging' and Hugh Canning in The Times says she deserves a medal. Jessica speaks with great openness and integrity about her path through the industry.

Find out more about Jessica and her work on her website or through her agent IMG Artists.

Julian began his life surrounded by music with his siblings, and was sent away to music courses by his parents, where he developed a real need to make music and share it with others. Between his classical training at King's College Cambridge and the Royal Academy of Music in London, he explored the world of historical performance at the Schola Cantorum in Basel, where he swiftly learnt Swiss German, how to improvise on the organ, and much more. Soon after his studies, on a course with Mary King and Rufus Norris at English National Opera, Julian discovered some unusual tips and tricks he would later apply in his work with singers. Julian now plays harpsichord at the highest level, coaches, and conducts – including his recent acclaimed recordings of John Eccles' Semele with the Academy of Ancient Music and Cambridge Handel Opera Company, and the world premiere recording of Stephen Dodgson's Margaret Catchpole: Two Worlds Apart for Naxos, and is also the Artistic Director of Cambridge Handel Opera Company.

You can read more about Julian on his website here , and find out more about Cambridge Handel Opera Company here.

John Eccles' Semele, conducted by Julian is available here and Stephen Dodgsons's Margaret Catchpole: Two Worlds Apart is available here

At four and a half years old, perched on cushions at The Royal Opera House in London, Gweneth Ann Rand was captivated, and declared she wanted to become an opera singer. With the support of her mother, who was working three jobs to give her the best education she could, Gweneth studied music extensively before joining the first intake of the prestigious Vilar Young Artists Programme at the very same opera house that first inspired her. Although she found it difficult to negotiate her way through the early stages of her career (suffering in the throes of the Cardiff Singer of the World Competition for instance) she found her feet, and despite absolutely hating auditions, went from strength to strength. Gweneth talks openly about the deep losses she encountered at a crucial moment of her career, the freedom of feeling she doesn't need to be a 'cookie-cutter' opera singer, and how she always steps on the stage as if it's for the last time.

You can see Gweneth in The Turn of the Screw from OperaGlass Works (£ or free on trial subscription) here and her recital at the Wigmore Hall with pianist Simon Lepper is available for a limited time here

The American-born, German-based Baritone chose the moment carefully, knowing it could be the end of an operatic career. With an impeccably made-up face and full-length ball gown, and accompanied by a Marlene Dietrich-styled wife, Lucia Lucas attended the company ball where she was an Ensemble member at the Badisches Staatstheater in Karlsruhe. This signalled the beginning of her social transition. Lucia has gone on to be the first female transgender Baritone to perform a principal role on an American operatic stage with her Don Giovanni at Tulsa Opera, and her career has continued to go from strength to strength, bringing her to the UK to play Public Opinion in Orpheus in the Underworld at English National Opera and with some incredibly exciting roles and venues to follow in – Covid-depending - the near future. Lucia is living proof that being trans is not - and should not be - a hindrance to being hired. Don't miss her extraordinary story.

Managing Director of WildKat PR Olivia Brown chats to Nina Brazier about her journey to the top of the music PR industry, and offers insight for creatives on how to strategically promote themselves in the world of social media and beyond. Olivia played musical instruments from a young age, but suffered badly from performance nerves. Finding a music degree that didn't focus fully on performance, she studied at Leeds University and, discovering one of the year in industry options came complete with a company dog and rumours of cake, joined WildKat PR in London as an intern. Olivia later joined the company full time, and with strategic support from founder and owner Kathleen Alder, made her way in a few short years to becoming the Managing Director of their PR offices to lead the company's global operations in London, Berlin, Paris, New York and LA.

Living in Moscow at five years old, Cordelia Lynn was on the path to becoming a fine concert pianist. As a teenager back in the UK, her passion for words overtook her love of music and after studying English Literature at university, she joined the Royal Court Young Writers Programme in London. The same theatre went on to stage her plays Lela & Co. and One for Sorrow to critical acclaim, marking the start of her theatrical journey. Following an Opera Creation residency at the Festival D'Aix en Provence, Cordelia developed her work as a librettist, collaborating with composers on vocal works, and with the director Katie Mitchell and conductor Raphäel Pichon on Miranda at the Opéra Comique in Paris. In both theatre and opera, Cordelia's writing powerfully captures the subtle nuances of human interaction, and is a devastating and harrowing exploration of modern society which is both timely and necessary. Like flesh, her opera with composer Sivan Eldar is shortlisted for the Fedora Prize, and will premiere in January 2022 at Opéra National de Lille.

John Liddell, Head of Costume at Scottish Opera for 35 years, initially studied law, before becoming a heavy metal musician in the 60s. After making suitably eclectic costumes for fellow band-members and musicians, he went freelance, setting up a boutique in a Glaswegian garret. After trading tailor-made Edwardian costumes to an impeccably-dressed artist in exchange for paintings, he was recommended by the artist for a job as a Gentlemen's Cutter at Scottish Opera. Eventually John came to head up the entire Costume Department, liaising with designers and makers, overseeing the creation of everything that is worn stage on stage by the performers: clothes, accessories, shoes, hats, jewellery, make-up, hair-styling and wigs, until his excellently-timed retirement in 2020.