We are thrilled to have you joining Opera Holland Park this summer for our Opera in Song recital series, where you will be performing with the Opera Holland Park Young Artists. Why is supporting emerging talent important to you?

I know firsthand how important it is to be supported as a young developing singer by the generations above you who are currently doing the job. As a student at RAM, some of the most useful days were when visiting singers like Simon Keenlyside or Brindley Sherratt would come and give masterclasses and speak about the profession and being a singer. This sort of help and advice is hugely valuable, and helps shape a young singer’s ideas and opinions. I hope that in my coming to OHP, I can give the YAs some similar help.

What are you most excited about in the repertoire that you will be performing at Opera Holland Park?

I love Neapolitan songs. I sang them a lot during my studies, and now they make up a big part of my recital repertoire. They are always supercharged with emotion and glorious to sing!

Your 2021 album Passione explores the Italian songs made famous by legendary tenors of the past, including Enrico Caruso and Franco Corelli. Where did you get your passion for Italian song?

So, as hinted above, singing Neapolitan and Italian song made up a big part of my studies. When you sing this rep, you learn to sing in the Italian style but without as much of the technical difficulties posed by full-blown arias from operas. So, this, as well as the fact that they’re so beautiful, and give much satisfaction to sing.

When you signed with Decca in 2021, they described you as a lyrico spinto, but recently you’ve described yourself as a dramatic tenor. How do you feel your voice has changed as you’ve progressed through your career?

I am a lirico spinto, not a dramatic tenor, or at least not in the Fach system… perhaps I will become one in the future. A dramatic tenor sings the very heaviest of Italian rep (Otello, Canio, Luigi) as well as the helden repertoire—that is not me. My voice is developing as I gain in age and experience, as is totally natural. I started off with an already fairly dark and powerful voice, and it is continuing in this vein. I will strive to keep higher roles in my repertoire for as long as possible to try to keep the flexibility in the voice.

You have spoken before about being trained in bel canto technique and the singing lineage you come from. Even though you don’t often perform bel canto repertoire, how does your bel canto training influence the way you sing Puccini and Verdi?

If one sings Italian rep, one should always strive to sing it in a bel canto style, or at least with a bel canto base—that is to say, ensuring one is singing on the supported breath and with perfect legato. Veristic declaiming can be added, when appropriate, if you are singing, say, Cavalleria or Manon Lescaut, but it should always be underpinned by a bel canto line. This is how you can sing the most challenging repertoire without becoming exhausted and ruining your voice.

What is a piece of advice, musical or otherwise, that has stayed with you throughout your career so far?

I would say the best piece of advice I have received would be: “Don’t try to sound like anyone else, sound like Freddie.” These days, there are many singers who just try to sound like their heroes. They copy the sound rather than studying and trying to imitate the technique of whichever singer they idolise, which of course, over time, will lead to ruin. If you stay true to your own sound and work diligently on your technique, hopefully the career will be long and fruitful!

Interview by Jay Rockwell