Can you tell us about your role at OHP?

There are two roles for me to sing, Cake and Berghahn. 

What are you most looking forward to about this role? 

Gorgeous solo and ensemble music with live orchestra (might have a friend from Hong Kong playing in too!) 

What do you hope to learn or gain from the Opera Holland Park Young Artists scheme?

The score is so lively and I’m expecting a lot of actions while singing difficult music! Also, since moving from Hong Kong in 2013, my first show at OHP was Dove’s Flight in 2015. James Laing was singing Refugee and his final scene was so heartbreaking. 

You are the first countertenor on the Opera Holland Park Young Artists scheme. What unique challenges and rewards do you encounter when interpreting contemporary work, perhaps in contrast to the countertenor repertoire that is often associated with Baroque composers like Handel and Purcell?

I love singing contemporary music and I love a challenge. You really have your own interpretation and no one has set an expectation of it. You listen to the music. You just pour your heart out without thinking about the micromanagement for other repertoire. 

Difficult part is to memorise it. But after all, you need to own the music inside out and then start playing with it, just like any other music. 

Are there any roles you haven’t performed yet that you’d like to?

I would *love* to sing Refugee in Flight. Also, Akhnaten by Glass. Sesto in Giulio Cesare. Interdisciplinary work is my other passion, so I hope to create with dancers, actors and others.

Itch is a character who regularly finds himself running into trouble. Can you share a time when something has gone wrong onstage while you’ve been performing?

The time when I was performing in a children’s opera for the 37th time… I zoned out slightly at a 10am show… My colleague was singing about all the precious items from pharaoh’s tomb and a musical phrase would pause while he sang about a cat sculpture. Guess what happened… I didn’t bring on the cat prop! That silence of 5 seconds felt like forever. Everyone had a blank face, children confused and the cast tried *so* hard not to burst into laughters… 

What’s a piece of advice, musical or otherwise, that has stayed with you?

There is so much advice I keep. Vocal one is, you are enough. Career one is, nothing ventured nothing gained! 

 

Interview by Holly Bancroft