It is with huge joy and apprehension that I am announcing my new job. I start next week! After a fiercely competitive audition process, I have been selected to join the chorus of the Royal Opera in London’s Covent Garden.


Someone pinch me. I think I am dreaming.

Photo of the view of the main stage from when I went to watch the dress rehearsal of Lucia di Lammermoor last year.

To all my gorgeous colleagues at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, thank you for the past seven years. You have made every day so joyful. I used to look forward to going to work so that I could see your smiling faces. There is such a special culture at this company- like no where else in the world.
To the OBV chorus, I love you all. I have treasured sharing the stage with you all. I miss you all already. My favourite musical moments are too many to write now. But I fondly remember standing at the edge of the stage in a long line shoulder to shoulder and singing “Brahma divine Brahma” in Pêcheurs de Perles. And I will never forget our real life on stage proposal from Pim and Wineke as they were dressed in their old age wigs and makeup.
Thank you all so much for my wonderful and thoughtful gifts. The gift of your continued friendship is all that I really want, so please do stay in touch.
We have toured together over the years to Luxembourg, Lille and Montpellier. And I never gave up hope that the tour to Athens might one day happen (but never did). But mostly we have traveled by train and by bus between Antwerp and Gent more times than I care to remember. Every journey an adventure. Always chatting away, always cheerful.
Anyway, today I took a little souvenir from Grieg’s Peer Gynt in Ghent Bijloke Podium. Amidst all the wonderful orchestral music (Hall of the Mountain King, Morning Theme, Anitra’s dance etc) comes an A Capella hymn in Norwegian. I think we sound GLORIOUS together (secretly recorded on my iPhone). I am proud to have made such beautiful music with you all. I will listen to this recording and think of you often.
This is not goodbye. I will be back again to visit with my beautiful daughter. My life is moving on to pastures new now. But I will carry this Belgian part of my story around in my heart forever. Have a cup of tea for me whenever you miss me, and I will have a Belgian chocolate for you too. Tot straks allemaal! Xx

I certainly wept secretly during my final performances with Opera ballet Vlaanderen. I will miss this company deeply; the people here are marvellous. But it is time now for me to move back to the UK to be with my new family.


The music of this work is iconic. The Hall of the Mountain King is a theme that has followed me through my childhood years through the advertising campaigns for Alton Towers theme park in the UK. Yet it was the orchestral “Morning Theme” that moved me to tears during this performance. The orchestra played so very expressively and warmly, and magnificently. It touched my soul to hear this music played by these people; my friends. 


Singing in Norwegian was a fun challenge. It reminded me of the time I performed in Bergen towards the start of my career. But that’s a story for another day…


I will miss these people, I will miss this working culture, I will miss the walls of these buildings, I will miss these audiences. I tried to scour my last concerts as best as I could.
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This was my last performance for Opera Ballet Vlaanderen before taking time off to have a baby. I had a nasty virus that meant I had no voice for most of the rehearsals, and I was devastated by the idea that I wouldn't be able to sing for this concert. But luckily my voice was back just enough on the performance day itself. I felt quite emotional thinking that I wouldn't get the chance with my colleagues again for a few months. But my body was heavy and tired. Even just putting my shoes on was impossible, and I had to ask a colleague to do the buckle on my concert shoes. That is how you know it is time to take a break from working.

Exciting things coming though. Work and singing have been the focus and centre of my universe for many years now. I am so very happy about the new beginnings coming my way. I feel so blessed and optimistic about the future.

This is an opera that sits very close to my heart. It was one of the first operas that I ever had a solo in when I was a student at the Royal College of Music. I performed all of the chorus music as a one per part solo and duetting with a mezzo who is a good friend of mine, and also sang the small role of “Une Grecque Femme”. But for OBV this time I was only singing in the chorus. 

You may also notice in the photographs below that the costume department had to conceal quite a large bump in this costume for me! It was quite physically demanding climbing over the huge steps on this set while heavily pregnant.
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I was delighted to be asked to sing the small soprano solo of La Cugina for OBV in Madama Butterfly. It is an opera that I have wanted to have the opportunity to perform in ever since I watched it as a student in Manchester performed at the Lowry Centre by Opera North, and then again as a live broadcast of it from Glyndebourne a few years ago. I have to confess that the humming chorus is quite possibly some of the most tranquil and enchanting music I have ever heard. However, technically speaking, to make the humming chorus sound easy is a HUGE challenge. It also happens to be incredibly challenging for a soprano to sing “in bocca chiusa” or with her mouth closed whilst at the very top of her range. It is a feat that is neither tranquil or enchanting for the singer herself! However I have been enjoying the challenge every night, and the feedback we have received is that the effect is magical and peaceful to reflect the passing of time during the opera.


The concept for this production is black and white. The set is mostly pure white, which is in contrast to the black costumes that the majority of the cast are wearing.
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I actually wrote text for this blog on the evening after the marathon, but I have been so busy lately that I didn't get around to actually posting an update! I am still buzzing reading back over this, it was such a perfect race, a perfect city, and even more perfect that both my partner Tom and I managed to achieve a marathon personal best (PB).

New marathon PB: 3:43:57 

So here is my journal entry from the day itself:
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This morning, Tom and I woke up in our fabulous hotel, threw on our race kit (lovingly flat-layed the night before), and headed to the start line for the Vienna marathon. As we arrived at the train station nearest the hotel, we were primed to buy tickets at the ticket machine, when another passing runner informed us that public transport was free with your race number! Yes- a mini win to start the day.

The race HQ was slightly chaotic with not quite enough signage for my liking. However there were PLENTY of portaloos every few meters, and what more could a runner want on race day!
We stumbled into our correct start block by reading fellow runners race labels (no signage at all for the blocks). And we waited under our thermal blankets for the race to begin. It was a very cold morning, but the sun was shining and the conditions were seemingly ideal for what we wanted.

The first two kilometres were a bridge over the Danube river. I particularly enjoyed the down. Then suddenly the course was gorgeously flat, and running felt so effortless. We were surrounded lots of other well seasoned runners who were setting good pace to keep to. Yet somehow I never felt as though someone was going to step on my toes, or me step on other people. Despite it being quite busy, I always felt like I had space to stretch my legs.
Then we started to run through the historic and monumental city centre. It was all the iconic sights of Vienna in her full glory. Then we were back along the Donaukanal.
My favourite moment was the tree lined path of Park Prater where Kipchoge set his infamous 1:59 marathon with Nike. It was simply stunning, although after nearly 10km in the park I began to wonder when it would ever end. Then at 37km Tom finally caught up with me and overtook me. I chased him as hard as I could, but I never quite caught him. Then at 40km with only 2km to go, I realised that I could actually achieve my target goal dream time. I ran as hard as I could, and my last 700m were a fast, angry push with lots of swearing and shouting.
Vienna will stay in my heart forever, and I will 100% recommend it to all runners.

So it's all over now... what a whirlwind it has been. Here is an action shot from one of the Royal Opera's official photos. Sorry, I don't know who the photographer was - I had to get this photo by print-screening one of their Facebook advertisements. They didn't send out any of the professional photos that they took. You can see me and my curly hair as a blurry mess behind the captivating mezzo-soprano Aigul Akhmetshina who was a marvellous Carmen.

So I have supplemented this shot with a couple of photos of my in the dressing room wearing two of my 4 costumes!

I am thrilled to announce that I finally got my letter to go to Hogwarts (a.k.a The Royal Opera House)! I knew it would happen eventually if I didn’t give up faith. I will be performing as a soprano in the chorus of Bizet’s Carmen at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in April and May 2024. Come and watch if you can get hold of tickets and are in Laaaaaandan. Otherwise you can check your local cinemas across the world to see if you can watch a live screening, or a replay. I will be a little blob in the corner of a crowd somewhere having the best time of my life, but also pinching myself as my lifetime dreams come true! 

This will be my third production of Carmen in my life. The last time I sang this opera, I played the role of Frasquita and thoroughly enjoyed all the trios and quintet that she gets to vocally skip above the other voices.

The first time I performed this opera was in 2010 - yes the same year as instagram was born. It was my third year as an undergraduate at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, and I remember having huge amounts of fun with the other cast members whilst the curtain was down and the overture was playing. Here are a couple of photos of my costumes from 14 years ago. I wonder what I will wear this time around...

I will update my blog again once rehearsals get more into motion!

Nurse Jenny is back again after 5 years since she last made an appearance in this production of Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de Perles. All the performances have long been sold out. We are now coming towards the end of the run, but I can’t express how immensely I adore Bizet’s music. When I am hiding inside of the stage while it is rotating, or in the wings preparing for my next entrance, or during my quick changes backstage, I seem to always find myself dancing to this music. I just can’t help but move my body when I listen to these beautiful romantic melodies being played by the Opera Ballet Vlaanderen Orchestra. It is a sublime experience every show, and I am so grateful that I get to do this as my job. I will be sad when the run of 14 shows comes to an end.  Last time we had 16 performances because we also took it to Luxembourg, so that is a total of 30 performances of the same opera - I think this is my record for the most performances of the same production!