DISCOVER YOUR REAL POTENTIAL
What do you consider to be the most important ideas and concepts to impart to aspiring musicians?
Keep loving what you do, and remember that very few people are doing what we do. Be curious about everything, because what love and life you experience will become part of your music making.
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What do you consider to be the most important ideas and concepts to impart to aspiring musicians?
That music should always be about something, be for something, be because of something. We spend years honing instrumental or vocal technique, and it is right that that is the primary focus of teaching, but what’s the point if we don’t try and use it to say something. People need the space at a young age to find what their artistic voice might be.
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Who or what inspired you to take up singing, and pursue a career in music?
I was something of a surprise to a thoroughly non-musical family so my first singing heroes came from the world of TV and musical theatre; Michael Crawford, Michael Ball and particularly Harry Secombe. It wasn’t until I found myself at university – a second-rate pianist being nudged towards the vocal department – that I began to take my own voice seriously. I was taken in hand by an excellent teacher and found inspiration from the absolutely wonderful recordings of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.
Who or what have been the most important influences on your musical life and career?
At 32 my career is barely begun but the biggest influence across all the branches of my career is my membership of the BBC Singers. I’ve been a part of the ensemble for 8 years and I most certainly would not be the musician I am today without that experience. When I joined the group I was in no way prepared for what would be expected of me day in day out. The great beauty of the group though, is that it is the vessel in which is contained a near-century of experience and expertise and I found myself surrounded by older colleagues who have taught me by their own example just about everything I know today. As a singer, as a conductor and as a composer I have been shaped by the BBC Singers.
What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far?
As a non-singer turned cutting-edge contemporary choral musician I suppose getting over the horror of sight-singing was a big hurdle. These days I think I’m probably as able a sight-singer as most.
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