August is going to be an absolute feast of Brahms. By happy coincidence St George's Cathedral have programmed an all-Brahms concert the same month as the WA Symphony Orchestra present their two week Brahms festival. On August 14th the Cathedral will perform Brahms' Requiem with Sara Macliver and Andrew Foote, also Brahms' Alto Rhapsody for Mezzo (Fiona Campbell) and male chorus. The Rhapsody hasn't ever (to my knowledge) been performed in Perth. WASO will host Pinchas Zukerman playing Brahms' Violin Concerto (August 21) and Zukerman and his wife cellist Amanda Forsyth in the Double Concerto for violin and cello (August 22). Garrick Ohlsson will perform Brahms' first and second Piano Concertos on August 28/29. Accross those four concerts will be spread Brahms' Four Symphonies, conducted by Asher Fisch. It is going to be exquisite! The University of Western Australia delivers its ANZAC tribute this month with several war-themes concerts. On the 6th in collaboration with WAAPA is a memorial Concert for Hiroshima, on the 21st Ashley William Smith and friends will perform Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time and on the 29th a free concert of Britten's massive War Requiem will be performed at Winthrop Hall with the UWA Choral Society and Churchlands Senior High School.
The WA Academy of Performing Arts presents award-winning Polish guitarist Marcin Dylla on the 21st and on the 27th Alexandre Da Costa and the Indian Ocean Ensemble perform Saint Saens' Carnival of the Animals and an orchestral version of Shostakovich's 3rd String Quartet. Earlier in the month Musica Viva are touring the 8-piece vocal ensemble I Fagiolini (August 3rd) and Simone Young will conduct WASO performing Faure's Requiem (August 7/8).
There is a huge range of concerts this month. I challenge you to go not just to a guaranteed crowd-pleaser, but to take a risk and check out one that doesn't interest you on paper. Perhaps you don't know the performers or don't 'like' the repertoire. Go anyway and I will put a bet on it that you will be stunningly surprised. Several of the concerts are free so you may not even have to lose any money over it!
Do post a comment and let me know what you chose this month and how you found it :-)
Best Costume - Gabriela Tylesova
Best Original Score - Kate Miller-Heidke and Iain Grandage
Best Presentation for Children - The Rabbits
Best New Australian Work - Miller-Heidke, Grandage and librettist Lally Katz
Another Perth Festival production Les Arts Florissants won Best Chamber and/or Instrumental Ensemble Concert for In An Italian Garden. Les Arts director William Christie won Best Individual Classical Music Performance (winning over Asher Fisch who was nominated for WASO's Beethoven Festival series).
For the full list of national awards go to http://www.helpmannawards.com.au/
The Rabbits, a picture book by John Marsden and Shaun Tan,
is the inspiration for OPERA AUSTRALIA’S most recent opera commission. Marsden’s
clean poetry and Tan’s capacity to visually depict otherness and displacement prompted
director John Sheedy (BARKING GECKO THEATRE COMPANY) to create an opera that is
part music theatre, part puppet show and instantly engaging. The Rabbits premiered at the HEATH
LEDGER THEATRE on February 13th as part of the Perth International
Arts Festival.
The Marsden/Tan book uses the allegory of rabbits arriving
in a land of marsupials to tell with simple directness the universal story of
colonisation. Opera librettist Lally Katz introduces a narrator the Bird sung
by pop artist Kate Miller-Heidke who also composed the music for the opera.
The story unfolds with an almost uncomfortable
forthrightness. The numbat-like marsupials are sung with warmth and naturalness
by indigenous music theatre performers Hollie Andrews, Jessica Hitchcock, Lisa
Maza, Marcus Corowa and David Leha. The rabbits (Kanen Breen, Nicholas Jones,
Christopher Hillier, Simon Meadows and Robert Mitchell) arrive with Gilbert
& Sullivan-esque aplomb singing “English breakfast tea as we spread through
the country”. They brandish flags and ride on machinery and teach marsupials to
hop in a skipping rope while an accompanying tick tock musical motif makes an
aural link to the clocks scattered through Tan’s paintings. The marsupials
resist but are overthrown and watch helplessly as their children are removed, a
moment made more wrenching by the eloquent passion of soloist Hollie Andrews.
Designer Gabriela Tylesova’s set with its blue sky backdrop
and earthy floor captures both the vastness of Tan’s landscape and the detailed
clutter of the encroaching rabbits. The brown padded costumes for the
marsupials and the pointed masks of the rabbits are close replicas of Tan’s
figures and cold fluorescent lights embedded within the rabbits’ masks (Trent
Suidgeest lighting) adds further characterisation.
Miller-Heidke’s melody-driven score is performed by an
onstage five-piece band led by arranger Iain Grandage. The constant musical
quotations (operetta, marches, Gilbert & Sullivan) establish character and highlight
the humour in the libretto but the comedy becomes almost camp, more pastiche
than mystique and a long way from the aching sadness of the book.
The addition of the Bird as narrator is also problematic. Miller-Heidke
(roles in Jerry Springer: The Opera; The
Death of Klinghoffer) is visually and vocally spectacular but she becomes a
distraction. Part of the problem is the libretto which requires the Bird to interrupt
with the obvious: “They don’t speak each other’s languages”. However the Bird
also provides the most mysterious and interrogating moments, such as the
opera’s opening where she appears Erda-like trilling bird calls at dawn. Or
when she joins the marsupials and rabbits at the close of the opera in the
universal lament: “Where is the rich dark earth, warm and moist?”
The production captures the detail but only occasionally the
transcendence of The Rabbits allegory. The real success is Sheedy’s creation of
an all-age opera with a contemporary Australian resonance. The season sold-out
weeks in advance and the opening night audience responded whole-heartedly with
a standing ovation.
Remember the last time you heard Fiona Campbell sing and you stopped breathing because it was so exquisite (well that is what happens to me anyway)? Fiona appears with WA Opera this month singing Cherubino in the Marriage of Figaro, and promises it will be a laugh-out-loud brilliant production. She also admits to a penchant for surfing and conducting. Read on for more on WA's much-loved mezzo.
What music gets your heart racing?
Piano and Violin Concerti…Beethoven’s 5th Piano and Brahms Violin are particularly exciting.
What calms you down?
Chopin Nocturnes
Where do you call home?
I am fortunate enough to live in this beautiful city, Perth and commute to Sydney and other locations regularly.
You sang the role of the page boy Cherubino (The Marriage of Figaro) in 2009 for West Australian Opera in an (almost) all-WA cast that included Sara Macliver and James Clayton. I remember you as being effete and endearing as Cherubino. How do you remember the season?
With great affection. The Marriage of Figaro is one of my favourite operas, Sara and James are always brilliant to work with and made a delightful couple in this production back in 2009. I was nominated for a Helpmann Award for my portrayal of Cherubino, so it was happy days.
What can we expect from the July 2015 revival of The Marriage of Figaro, which opens on Tuesday 14th?
I can honestly say, hand on heart, that you can look forward to one of the best performances of Figaro you will ever see at His Majesty’s Theatre, or anywhere. It is a sensational cast, with beautiful ensemble singing and brilliant acting, a cast who are able to bring this masterpiece to life, with all of its intrigue, danger, poignancy and laugh out loud comedy moments.
Fiona singing Cherubino with WA Opera in 2009. Photo James Rogers
You sing regularly with Joseph Nolan and the St George’s Cathedral Choir. On August 14th you will join them to perform Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody for contralto, male chorus and orchestra. Have you sung this before?
Indeed I’ve been very fortunate to be involved in many of the fine performances at St Georges and I will be singing the Brahms Alto Rhapsody next month. The Rhapsody is such a stunning work, rarely heard here (if ever?). It is sumptuous, melting and lyrical. I’ve never sung this work before and can’t wait to perform it with Joseph Nolan and the exceptional choir he has developed there at St George’s Cathedral, along with Mark Coughlan on the piano. It’s going to be a very special night of music.
Where did you learn the skills that have enabled you to work at the top of the industry as a mezzo soprano?
Many, many years of practice and critical observation. I started off with a music degree at WAAPA, but like all professions, a degree is only the beginning of the journey. I had to learn the hard way, that natural ability only takes you so far and if you want to work at the top of the industry it takes preparedness, professionalism, tenacity, as much hard work as is required, plus a degree of business savvy.
Is it true your original ambition was to be a conductor?
Indeed, I did do conducting while I was at the conservatorium, loved it and spent many hours a week leading ensembles etc... In the second year of my degree, my singing teacher advised me that I had the potential to be a professional singer, but was spending too much time conducting and consequently I had to choose. I felt that every great conductor was an accomplished instrumentalist and I did not have an instrument, so I set out to master one. Now, perhaps that door will open once more, it’s certainly something I’d love to try again.
I remember you telling me with great excitement that you had been booked to sing with Jose Carreras in Italy. Your gig with one of the world’s greatest tenors came about because American mezzo Susan Graham pulled out of the show. (Have you met Graham? It turns out she is in Perth in this month with the Australian Chamber Orchestra.) Was it the big break that you expected it to be?
Singing with Jose Carreras in Tokyo was wonderful and it led to a number of other concerts with the legendary tenor in Australia and Korea. It also led to many concerts with Barbara Bonney, in London, Japan, Korea and Australia, and it was terrific fun to be a part of that world. Timing is everything and the GFC pretty much put a stop to those extravagant concerts, lucrative contracts and consequently interrupted my trajectory on that international path. In my experience, there has never been one big break, it is more a constant and continuous journey. People are always saying "believe in yourself”, however really believing in yourself is not as easy to do as it sounds. That experience taught me that I could hold my own, on any stage in the world, next to some of the best in the industry, which in turn gave me great confidence and satisfaction.
You have a soft spot for Baroque and early music. What is the appeal of this repertoire?
I enjoy the extraordinary musical beauty and inventiveness of that era. It has a delicate, subtle and ornamental style, which allows me to explore the phrases and create an abundant variety of vocal colours. It is difficult to do really well, which makes the challenge extremely satisfying.
Campbell singing Handel's "Lascia ch'io pianga" with Guy Noble piano.
Filmed by Hospital Hill Recordings
"Opera needs to diversify in scale again," American opera director Peter Sellars said in a recent interview. "It wasn't always this elephant. It was quite light on its feet for a lot of its history and I think we need to be in that mode again… the next generation is looking to buy their vegetables at a farmers' market, not a supermarket; they want that taste, that crunch, that flavour. I think they're looking for more intimate musical experiences where you're close enough to taste the quality of the work." What do you think is the role of opera in the 21st century?
I agree that opera needs to diversify its scale. The entertainment business has become a sophisticated industry, competition for every ticket is fierce and audience tastes have changed dramatically, even in the last 10 years. Opera is still one of the greatest forms of artistic expression and one filled with relevance for today’s audiences. The challenge however, is to present it in a way that is authentic, engaging and enticing for our changing audiences, not just do what has always been done and expect people to keep walking in the door. Fortunately, in a creative industry, there are creative solutions and many fine examples of companies doing just that.
I’ve enjoyed hearing some of your live concert broadcasts with ABC Classic FM. Your rounded vowels and excellent diction are quite useful skills behind a broadcast microphone! Is this a new career trajectory?
Oh yes, I love being on radio, it’s a whole new way to connect with an audience. I want to bridge the gap between performer and spectator, by giving some insight into the experience of being onstage. As in everything, it takes a lot of practice to be good, but I’ve started that journey, so keep listening :)
Your performances are invariably marked by exquisite detail not just in your vocal phrasing but in your shaping of character. How do you prepare for roles to enable you to inhabit them so completely?
Thank you for the beautiful compliment! First of all, I spend time getting the dots right. Then I look at the text, see how the composer has set it, what choices they have made on any given phrase, interval or length of note and use these clues to inform my interpretation. Beyond that it is practice, so that I feel completely prepared and therefore have the freedom to be expressive and use my instinct in performance.
I understand you are also a mother. How do you juggle an international career with parenting teenagers?
Any working mum understands the difficulties of juggling parenting around their work commitments. Mine is slightly more complicated perhaps because I don’t work regular hours and I travel a fair bit. Fortunately, now that the kids are older, they can get themselves to and from school, can cook dinner and help around the house. They are incredibly supportive and know my work is important to me, but they also know how important they are to me and I have made many crazy, overnight trips home just to make sure I can share a special moment with them (school graduation for example) or just to spend a couple of days with them that we wouldn’t otherwise have had.
Do you have a soft spot for anything else in life or is it all about the music?
Life has soooo much to offer. Music is a part of my life, an important part granted, but it’s not all about the music. I love spending time with my family and friends, eating out or cooking up a storm. I’m a huge fan of nature and one of my favourite things to do is walk along the Bibbulmun track around Denmark and have fun at the beach, surfing, swimming or walking my little dog.
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Thank you Fiona Campbell for making time for the Celebrity Soft Spot series. For more info on the singer go to http://www.fionacampbell.com.au. To purchase tickets to Marriage of Figaro go here and Brahms' Alto Rhapsody go here.
