Can you tell us about your role this year at OHP?

I am thrilled to be joining Opera Holland Park for the first time as this year’s Young Artist conductor. I’ll be conducting performances of The Barber of Seville with our wonderful Young Artist cast. 

What led you to the world of opera conducting?

My parents both work in the fields of theatre and dance, so as a kid I would often go along with them to rehearsals or performances, and so a theatre house always felt like a second home to me. I was already studying music when I accompanied my mother to a run of rehearsals for a production of Bizet’s opera Carmen that she was choreographing, and I remember the impact that the opera made on me like it was yesterday: I fell in love with it straight away. With the years I went from studying piano to singing but ultimately realized I was most drawn to the orchestral sound and decided to pursue conducting, and by then opera had become one of my passions so I already knew I wanted to go in that direction as a conductor.

You’ve conducted both operas and purely orchestral works. What do you enjoy about the different disciplines?

It’s a ‘best of both worlds’ scenario. I love how opera tells different stories in such an impactful way: you get to meet all these characters, their inner worlds and conflicts and follow them in whatever path they are set on, all enhanced by amazing music; so I like to centre my work around the dramatic development of the characters and story. With symphonic music, barring some exceptions, this becomes much more abstract of course, so the process of figuring out a piece, its dramatic pace, and putting it together is quite different for me as conductor, but in an exciting way. From a more practical perspective, I get a lot of enjoyment out of the process of putting an opera together, as I find working not only with fellow musicians but also with so many professionals from different trades – from the technical to the costume departments – really enriching.

You run an opera-focussed YouTube channel. Can you tell us why you do that and what the videos you make are about?

I had always used YouTube as a tool to learn about subjects or hobbies that I was interested in, from specialty coffee to filmmaking, and always felt that it would be great if there were more people on the platform – or any platform with such a massive reach – talking about opera and classical music. There is a special energy that transmits when someone shares from a personal perspective something they find fascinating or have experience with – in my case opera and conducting – that I believe makes people curious to find out more about it.

At the same time I am extremely passionate about opera reaching new audiences, simply because I believe it could bring so much enjoyment to many more people that perhaps never considered it could be for them. So when the pandemic hit and my conducting activities came to a halt I decided it was time to give it a go. I like to keep the topics varied: it can go from a deep dive into a specific opera to explaining how orchestra conducting works, and I have been so positively surprised with how much curiosity and engagement people have shown, so I am doing my best to keep it up parallel to my conducting activities because it is a lovely way to connect with people and share my love for opera and conducting.

Leading on from that; what would you say to someone who is considering coming to see an opera for the first time?

I like to describe going to the opera like a night out at the cinema, in the sense that there are many types of films you could go see – comedy, dramas, thrillers – but if you happen to watch one you didn’t enjoy, you would rarely say you “don’t like films”, or “going to the cinema”.  Similarly, there are so many different opera experiences one can have, so I would say if you are curious and have the time to do a bit of research, choose something that is aligned with what you generally enjoy; whether that means choosing a drama over a comedy, or going for a shorter opera if you know you prefer something brief, or the other way round. But if you don’t have the inclination to take time for this, simply come to any performance that is accessible to you: the sheer spectacle that is opera – the amount of people coming together to make it work, the amazing stage design, the unamplified voice and the orchestral sound – will make for an unforgettable experience. 

What do you hope to gain or learn from the OHP Young Artists Scheme?

There are so many things to look forward to! It is lovely to have the chance to work with everyone involved in our production for such a long period of time and get to know them as people and artists. Very often at the beginning of a conductor’s career one is mostly involved in short term engagements, so to be a part of this production from beginning to end is such an exciting and rare opportunity. I am thrilled to both support our main cast and learn from their artistic vision, as well as have the chance to shape our own version with our Young Artist team. I am also delighted to work on such an important piece of the operatic repertoire as The Barber of Seville; I adore Italian opera, and more so when it’s such a fun time as Barber is! Lastly, I look forward to experiencing the festival as a whole, exploring the other productions and immersing myself in the vibrant and creative environment that is Opera Holland Park.

What is one piece of advice, musical or otherwise, that you’ve been given that has stayed with you?

My grandfather would always say “equivocate, pero equivocate segura”, which translates from Spanish to something along the lines of “make mistakes, but make them with certainty”. I think this is a lovely sentiment to keep in mind as artists; after all the training and preparation there comes a moment when we must experiment or take an artistic risk, and doing this with confidence even if the results are yet unknown to us will always bring something positive in return. 

 

Find out more about The Barber of Seville here.