Robyn Allegra Parton, soprano

Who or what inspired you to pursue a career in music and who or what have been the most important influences on your musical life and career?

My mother was always singing opera in the house. She’s a brilliant amateur singer and she took me with her on choir trips and to watch performances at English National Opera.

My biggest early influences were Finchley Children’s Music Group, a fantastic choir for kids in North London, an Eton Choral Course run by Ralph Allwood which was great musicianship training, and the Junior Royal Academy of Music which was just so exciting, it felt like going to Hogwarts one day a week.

I fell in love with opera at university, and on graduating I joined Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s Monteverdi Choir and took part in ENO’s Opera Works programme at the same time. John Eliot taught me more than anyone before or since about phrasing, style and communication in concert repertoire, and ENO taught me stagecraft, body awareness and acting in opera. That was a really fundamental year for me!

What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far?

I’ve moved country from the UK to Germany – that wasn’t easy – but I enjoyed the challenge. Otherwise, I’ve sung in a lot of different areas of professional singing, from choirs and opera choruses to small roles to lead roles, and all genres from baroque to modern, always reinventing myself. However, the hardest thing by far was changing voice type (soubrette soprano to lyric-coloratura soprano) as an opera soloist. I’ve been in the UK opera scene since I was 21 and it takes a while for some people to get on board with a change like that, but I feel very settled now!

Which performances/recordings are you most proud of?

One of my first ever professional roles was Barbarina in the Marriage of Figaro at the Royal Opera House in London. My second performance was broadcast live in cinemas around the world.. I had so much adrenaline I can’t remember a thing about it, but I’ve got the recording and I feel really proud of myself watching it now.

Which particular works/composers do you think you perform best?

It’s changed every five years or so but now I’d definitely say belcanto repertoire: Donizetti, Bellini, light Verdi and then always Mozart and Richard Strauss. The composers on this album are all influenced by Richard Strauss and I put some really technically demanding songs in there!

What do you do off stage that provides inspiration on stage?

I read a lot of classical literature and philosophy, and go to art galleries… that all helps me get to know the historical characters and the epochs they’re in, but I’ll also watch every movie or TV show out there. I like the tiny detail in movie acting and try to use it on stage in combination with the bigger, more visible theatre-acting style.

How do you make your repertoire choices from season to season?

Somehow I’ve not chosen repertoire so much as accepted certain roles and they’ve turned out to all belong to one vocal category. I think if that’s what people want to cast me as, it’s probably what I’m good at.

Do you have a favourite concert venue to perform in and why?

The Holywell Music Room in Oxford has a special place in my heart. It has so much history behind it, and I have very happy memories of singing there as a student and for the Oxford International Song Festival (formerly the Oxford Lieder Festival).

What do you feel needs to be done to grow classical music’s audiences?

Firstly, it’s funding for music in schools – teach young children how to listen and how to play, and they’ll want to watch when they’re older. But also having lived in Germany for a few years, I’ve seen how people there are totally unashamed to attend operas and concerts because it doesn’t have such a strong connection to the upper class. I assume this is because theatres and orchestras there are largely state funded – all tickets are within an affordable price-range and there’s a feeling that the town theatre is there to serve the public.

What is your most memorable concert experience?

I’ve sung in the Royal Albert Hall a couple of times and from the stage it looks as though the walls of the whole building are built out of people in the audience. That’s really something magical.

As a musician, what is your definition of success?

My definition of musical success is to be satisfied with whatever I’m doing at the time. If I’m making music and I feel fulfilled by it, that’s all I need.

What advice would you give to young/aspiring musicians?

Check out different cultures and systems for becoming a musician. It’s not the same in every country and sometimes it’s about finding the right system for you.

What’s the one thing in the music industry we’re not talking about which you think we should be?

Nepotism. We talk regularly about opening up access for new musicians of all backgrounds and we focus on the financial and discriminatory aspects, as we should, but I never hear anyone bring up nepotism in a serious context. We often even embrace it as useful for marketing, or to sweeten a deal to book someone expensive, but I think we’re ignoring who is shut out from the industry when that happens.

What is your present state of mind?

I’m calm but very excited about the release of ‘Burnished Gold’. I’ve been so lucky to work with Simon Lepper and Orchid Classics. It’s been a project of love and labour for the last two years and I’m really proud to send it out into the world.

‘Burnished Gold’ with Robyn Allegra Parton and Simon Lepper (piano) is available now on the Orchid Classics label. The album features songs by Joseph Marx, Richard Strauss, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Alban Berg, Johanna Muller-Hermann and Anna Mahler-Schindler.

Find out more

robynallegraparton.com