Can you introduce us to your role?

I’m playing Tatyana, the older of the two Larina sisters in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. She spends her days deeply immersed in romantic novels, and is profoundly affected by the torrid affairs within. She dreams about what her own love story could be, until she meets Onegin, and a certain letter changes everything.

 

What aspects of your role are you most excited about?

I can’t wait to explore the emotional journey Tatyana makes, to examine how her ability to be vulnerable is affected by her experience, and how she changes between different stages of her life. I think the magic of this piece is how much the characters’ internal torment is evident in the music. As a singer it’s a real gift to be a vehicle for that.

 

What are you enjoying about the Young Artists programme this year?

It’s been really exciting working with a new team after two years of distance from fellow artists. To be working on this glorious music with such a supportive group is a real privilege.

 

Can you tell us something valuable you have learnt from working alongside the main cast?

Hearing everyone’s take on the plot and characters and bringing our individual interpretations together to form a cohesive whole has been really interesting. It’s encouraged me to think differently about aspects of the role.

 

What is something surprising about your job that audience members may not know?

How much we are able to play, be inventive and make things up! I like to create different scenarios for the opera to help me relate the setting to my own life. It’s great fun.

 

Who is your musical role model?

One artist I wish I could have experienced live is Judy Garland. The emotion in her singing is conveyed so viscerally, yet she is able to be sincere and avoids gilding the lily. I can’t think of many performers who are so skilled at finding that balance that makes music come to life so effortlessly. There is no option but to stop, listen and be moved.

 

Was there any music that got you through lockdown? What was it and how did it help you?

My go-to was, and still is, musical theatre, cabaret and pop. It could be Barbra Streisand or Little Mix depending on the day!

 

What are you looking forward to this season?

I first sang at OHP in 2015, so I can’t wait to see familiar faces as well as meet lots of new ones! After two years of being isolated from colleagues and friends I’m really excited to feel the OHP camaraderie again. I can’t wait for our performances too, of course!

 

If you could perform any role, what would it be?

I especially love the Slavic repertoire and would love to do more Tchaikovsky. He’s written some incredible roles for soprano, so after Tatyana, Iolanta and Lisa in the The Queen of Spades are high on the list. 

 

If you could work with any performer or director, alive or dead, who would it be?

Not strictly a performer or director, but it would have been wonderful to work with Stephen Sondheim. Being both the lyricist and composer gives his work such depth and coherence. It seems he was a terrific mentor to young artists, so I would have loved to discuss his understanding of his own songs to allow that to influence my interpretation.

 

What is the best piece of advice you’ve received, musical or otherwise?

To think of our journey as artists as a landscape to be explored, rather than a straight road with right or wrong turns. It’s easy to get caught up in what other people are doing and wonder if we should be following the same path, but comparison is the thief of all joy! Avoiding it helps me to focus my energy in the right way.