Interviews with musicians, composers and conductors
My favourite word for a musician is “trust”. We all practice very hard to have the requisite knowledge and skills. Trust is the ineffable ingredient. When we trust that what we communicate will resonate with the listener, that we don’t have to impress the audience, show off, or never miss a note, we will find our way to music’s essence.
playing works I love by other composers fuels my own desire to compose; and I feel that composing gives me an insight into the creative process that informs my choices when I play music by other composers
My greatest challenge is probably having the ability – and the desire – to embrace wildly different repertoires and styles. The performing arts world loves categories and labels, but I resist being pigeonholed and constantly push the boundaries of what I sing. I am equally comfortable singing cabaret in an intimate music venue, arias in an opera gala, musical theatre on the West End stage, or contemporary music with a sixty- piece orchestra!
Keep listening to live music and going to concerts to remind you why this is such a brilliant, powerful, relevant, important, beautiful thing in a human’s life and why you should keep on searching for those memorable, spine tingling occurrences.
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
I try to keep things as varied as possible (for my own sake). It’s very important to me to present programmes that make sense as a whole, with some kind of logic, and which provide continuity to the listener. I mostly pick works that I feel very strongly about when it comes to performing: there are many works I love that do not love me back!
