This client wanted our performance to be a total surprise on the night for his many guests. We had to arrive early for our sound check and rehearsal with the musicians in the orchestra/band, so that no one would hear us before the main dinner. The client was absolutely delighted. To quote him from a post he put out on social media after the event:

"LOVE IT WHEN YOU GET GOOSEBUMPS!!
£2,118,531 raised and voices like this.
Trying to keep a secret from 350 people attending a Ball is not easy, especially when the gift of the surprise is for your boss and his wife...
...How can such beautiful powerful sounds come from these two lovely ladies?"

With the post he shared a video from our sound check, but I hope to get some professional videos from the event in the very near future, and I will share those as soon as they come through! I can't wait for you to hear how it sounded!

A happy client makes me a very happy soprano. It's part of why I love what I do.

​x

The night before I ran the London marathon I had a choral concert in Antwerp. The travel to the start line is a whole other story in itself that involves driving through the night to get there. It was a very unique and special concert, with many rarely performed pieces of music. Here is a little bit of more information from the OBV website, and a little clip from one of our rehearsal's. In the clip you can hear a piece of Faure's Les Berceaux.

​"Choral music by Johannes Brahms, Arnold Schönberg, Fauré, and Hugo Wolf e.a. by the chorus of Opera Ballet Vlaanderen
"It is perfectly possible to compose a peace hymn without believing in eternal peace," Arnold Schönberg reported about 'Friede auf Erden' in 1906. This spellbinding choral work, in which peace figures like a hard-won dream, is accompanied by Johannes Brahms' 'Vier Gesänge, opus 17', in which the women's choir is enveloped in a gloriously romantic sound with horns and harps. Other gems from the German romantic repertoire also make an appearance."

I was asked at very short notice to learn this beautiful piece of music as a last minute stand in; Handel's Dixit Dominus. I felt very honoured to be asked, but I only had a few days to learn the entire of the 2nd soprano part - two duets and the alto solo. I know - ALTO - you did read that correctly. Normally I am singing top E flats or the soprano 1 part. I decided it was a fun challenge for myself, and that it would probably also be quite good for my technique to work on my middle and lower notes for little while. 
It was great fun. I did have to spend a few late nights really trying to get the notes into my head, but then I could spend a day or two really getting the placement into my voice. A challenge it was, but great fun all the same!
My duet partner way the glorious soprano Louise Fuller whom I met while we studied at the Royal College of Music together. Her soprano solo was simple stunning. I was in awe of her artistry and vocal beauty (Brava Louise!). I didn't remember to take a photo with her in our posh frocks unfortunately. We were having too much fun chatting and catching up. I did manage to get a great photo of the two of us at a service station somewhere on the way home. The photo is of us ordering Macdonalds as a midnight road snack (In this heat we've been having, I am a little bit obsessed with McFlurries).

Anyway, the gig was a triumph. The orchestra sounded amazing, and I managed to fool everyone that I was not in fact a soprano, but instead a mezzo. One gentleman looked very puzzled when he asked me what roles I have done, and I said Pamina. He certainly wasn't expecting that.

But now I am very glad to be back in my own fach and singing high soprano repertoire again. It suits my personality better, well I think so anyway.

Best wishes,

Jennifer x