At the end of last season, we performed OBV’s brand new production of Mozart’s opera Le Nozze di Figaro with direction by Tom Goosens. It is quite a non-traditional setting for the opera, in a deconstructed castle. The chorus are used throughout the opera and walk into many different scenes to add a playful charm and interest to some of the set arias. I have 4 different costumes to wear during the production, and they are all quite playful and unique. The concept for the costumes, was to go back into Opera Vlaanderen’s costume archives and dig out all the costumes from those that had previously been designed and mad for other productions, but never used. The costume department said that they really enjoyed this brief because there was so much to choose from, and they were glad that many of their previous working hours were finally going to be showcased. My costume begins with a corset and petticoat underneath. As if I have just woken up in the morning and am still undressed yet. Then we wear a soldiers/military jacket and accessories. Next we are all dressed as judges for a German courtyard scene (that was added into the opera by Mahler), and finally I wear a beautiful deep red party dress for the wedding party celebrations.

It was a very fun production to be a part of, even if the rehearsal process felt a little intense at times. You can currently watch the full show on OperaVision, it is currently live!

​I am very excited to have been asked back for The York Proms 2023 after my performance there four years ago. This year’s prom will be at York Museum Gardens on Sunday 18th June at 7:30pm.

I will be duetting with Tom Smith, an incredible tenor from Opera North who has performed solo roles at Glyndebourne and at all major U.K. opera houses.
Alongside some new pieces, will be reviving the ‘Tonight’ duet that I performed at the proms in 2019 and was an audience favourite. You can watch a clip from that performance here.

The theme for this year is Musical Theatre, and I am delighted to be able to channel my inner Julie Andrews to some of my favourite songs at the event ranging from Bernstein to Rogers & Hammerstein. Of course, the finalé will be the traditional Last Night of the Proms patriotic classics that the crowd can sing and wave flags along with. Plus there will be an incredible fireworks display to close the even with a bang (pun intended).

It promises to be a wonderful evening. There are only limited tickets still remaining, so book now to avoid disappointment.

https://www.yorkproms.com/

In May this year, the Opera in Montpellier, South France invited the chorus of Opera Vlaanderen to join them in performing Verdi’s Requiem. I honestly had the best time. We travelled there for a whole week and the sun decided to come out for us.
It was very good for me to get the opportunity to practice my French. I studied French for only 2 years at school, and it wasn’t taught particularly well, so I don’t feel confident forming my own sentences. But as the week went on, my confidence was growing, and I began to say more, and I was also able to understand more too. I also decided to take the opportunity to take in some French cuisine. I visited a Fromagerie and bought some incredible cheeses that I ate for lunch daily with fresh baguettes. When in France, right?


The concert itself was a great success. To my eye, the 2000 seater auditorium “Le Corum” looked completely sold out, and the rapturous applause after was very heart warming. They certainly like to cheer in the Mediterranean. Best of all, my new French colleagues expressed how much they had enjoyed working and singing with us, and the chorus master said that she would very much like to collaborate with us again. I really love touring, it really is one of my favourite parts of my job. I hope that we will get more opportunities to travel and sing again soon.

I did it! This has been the most intense marathon training plan so far. 


What an adventure it has been. I did it. After what felt like a never ending training block of 17 weeks. This time I upped training to 5 runs per week, and I even did 300km in the month of January alone. I am in the best shape of my life physically. A month ago I totally smashed my half marathon pb, and was looking good for setting a new marathon pb in London. BUT - I did an extra training run that wasn't on my plan that involved going down some irregular steps on a big hill and injured my hip with only 10 days to go. I saw a physio, rested, did walking recovery, took all the supplements I have in my cupboard. But I knew when I got to the start line (after driving through the night after a concert in Belgium on the Saturday night - which was exhausting in itself) that I wasn't fully recovered.
The race started really well. I was excited. Probably too excited, and wasted a bit of energy soaking up the atmosphere and high-fiving children on my way round. I stuck with the sub 3:40:00 pacer well for the first half - though it was hard to do that when trying to get around the crowds and slower runners. I had to do quite a bit of weaving just to stick with him.
My hip started talking to me after about 10km. By half way at 21km I was in pain. At 30km I hit the wall and it was sheer stubbornness and determination that kept me going to the end. By the finish I was in agony in my hip. When I stopped running it completely seized up and I could barely even walk.
Still, I am pleased to have done it in 03:52:14. Bitter sweet, because I can just imagine what might have been possible had I been in top shape. Going to have to go for my good for age qualifying time at another event.
Photos show the total contrast of me near the start compared to right at the end.
A massive shout out to everyone at Burnham Joggers , Antwerp Athletics, and Antwerp Running Crew for training with me. To my family for travelling with the babies to come and cheer me on on race day, and of course to Tom Kingsbury for being my running mentor and emotional support throughout.
​

I have just been having a clear out of my email account and going through some old emails. I found this email from a client in 2017 and wanted to share it with you. I remember singing at this wedding well. It was at the very pretty and intimate Burgh House Museum in Hampstead Heath, London. The client booked myself as a soprano wedding singer to sing with a string quartet and a pianist to play for their wedding ceremony and drinks reception.

"​Dear Jennifer,

I wanted to write to say a HUGE thank you for your beautiful performances at our wedding at Burgh House.  For me it was the highlight of the day and was such a worthy investment.  So many of our guests commented how overwhelmed they were when you started to sing Canteloube's Bailero.  For me waiting to go in to the room, I could describe it as nothing short of a transcendental moment!  It was particularly special as my grandmother who is sadly no longer with us loved that piece of music.  Both Michael and I were also so touched by your version of The Book of Love, which created a lovely poignant moment in our ceremony.  Please pass on our thanks to the fantastic pianist who accompanied you.  We greatly enjoyed his playing during our wedding breakfast.  The string quartet were also flawless. 

I have attached a few photographs of the day (including one of us listening to The Book of Love!). If you use them for any promotional materials, please credit Kirsten Mavric of Mavric Photography.

With many thanks and best wishes,

Hannah"

It really was a very special and beautiful wedding ceremony, and like always, I went out of my way to learn their special musical requests. If you are interested in booking me for your wedding or any other special event, then please do not hesitate to get in touch via my contact page.

Way back in 2018, this was my second production with Opera Ballet Vlaanderen. I had to learn the whole thing quickly and thoroughly at home because I was joining the production late (they had already started working on it for months before I joined the company). But - we only performed it in one of our cities, Gent! This time, in 2023, we are performing only in Antwerp to equalise the balance. It was much easier for me this time as I already knew the show, music and staging - but it is certainly not an easy show by any means. This was one of my favourite operas I have ever had the privilege to be apart of.

Here is a photo with me posing with an image of me from the show that was printed on the side of the Opera House by the stage door! They blew up the photo to be larger than life size!

When you first learn to sing, the fundamental thing to focus on at first is… breathing. I don’t consider myself just a professional singer, I am a professional breather! And that is why my industry had so many problems during the Covid-19 pandemic (but that’s a story for another post). 


When a child is born, they instinctively know how to breathe fully into the whole of their lungs. A baby can cry safely and never lose it’s voice. It’s body widens and contracts with each breath the way that an accordion works, or the bellows by a fire, by consuming the air rapidly, silently and deeply, and then creating the perfect amount of resistance to control it’s steady release.
Yet somehow, as we grow into adults, we forget how to breathe with our full capacity. We practice shallow and restricted breathing. We stop yelling and crying like babies, and then we lose the ability to use our bodies in a similar manner. But worse, as we grow older, we learn bad habits such as restrictive tensions, or poor posture that inhibit our breath functionality.


Learning to sing as an adult is all about relearning how to use your body again in it’s most freeing way. Releasing those hunched shoulders that have become a permanent fixture due to the many, many hours you have been forced to sit at a desk. Our bodies need reprogramming! But with a good singing teacher, it is certainly achievable, and once you find it again, it feels so liberating.


If you are interested in having singing lessons with me to really find out about how we can apply good breathing technique for singing to you specifically, then please get in touch via my contact page. As a singing teacher, I love to focus on good singing technique. Together we can work on a myriad of singing exercises to promote an easier and more beautiful sound. I teach in person singing lessons in the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire (South Bucks), London area (close to an Elizabeth Line TFL station), or virtual online lessons straight to your computer or phone screen wherever you are in the world!

During the interval of Verdi’s Ernani, members from OBV organised to sell badges to raise money for providing aid to Ukraine. I am so proud of my colleagues for coming up with this initiative. I helped out by giving my break time during some of the performances to sell the badges. They were for sale on a “pay whatever you want” basis, and I was so touched at how generous our audiences were. Most people gave to us and were grateful for the opportunity to be able to support our cause. Across our thirteen performance nights in Antwerp and Ghent, we managed to raise a 5 digit sum towards the cause.

So what will the money be used for? My understanding is that the money will be shared with the local Ukrainian refugee community here in Antwerp, and that they will distribute it directly to those most in need. They have cars that are driving to the worst affected areas in Ukraine, and they will be taking supplies over there - food, clothing, medical aid. Directly to those in need. I get quite emotional thinking about it. I have felt so helpless watching the news. It’s nice to feel like I have actually been able to contribute to providing some relief to those worst affected.

It really is thanks to my colleague from the chorus Els who has masterminded everything. She really is such a caring, charitable, and action taking person. Really inspiring to me.

Her next plan is to organise a concert in the Ghent Lully Zaal. I am now learning my music for it. We have a small chamber group from the choir performing some choral songs in 3 different languages. I hope that it is a great success, maybe see you in the audience?

Our Christmas production this year was on Verdi’s first ever opera “Ernani”. The story of a love triangle involving the King. Although it was never highlighted on any of the OBV marketing, I was delighted that our main conductor, director, costume and set designer were all female. Do you know how rare it is for just one of these roles to be filled by a woman? Let alone all of them at the same time! With that brilliant female leadership, again OBV leads the way in its commitment to diversity and equality. 

However, that being said, this was an incredibly masculine production. Very grimy, militant and grey to look at. The female chorus are introduced with a maypole made of nooses. The male chorus had to climb into body bags whilst singing their number on stage. The creative choices would never have suggested anything about the festive time of year that we were performing in. It didn’t feel particularly Christmassy at all. I would love to go back to my first ever Christmas time opera 15 years ago… it was Die Fledermaus at the Royal Northern College of Music. The stage was a glittery, golden, flowing, double staircase and everyone was in bright colourful ball gowns with hoops inside. One day I would love to be a bit more “cruise ship” at the opera again. 

Anyway, back to Ernani. I loved the music in this opera. It was playful and melodic, and you can hear Verdi’s style developing. Some of the female chorus music hints to what he will later write for the witches in Macbeth. And the 3rd act male chorus singing in unison is simply spine tinglingly good. Verdi really knew how to write a melody.
One very exciting moment in the process for me, right before the public dress rehearsal, I was asked to cover the soprano character “Giovanna”. Some of the principles had been coming down with sickness so they decided to get some covers for the roles that weren’t already double cast. Although, I never got to go on and perform the role, I was ready for it.

It looks like this won’t be the last time that I will be singing Verdi this season. Our tour of our production of Schumann’s Faust to Montpellier in the South of France has now changed to a concert of Verdi’s Requiem. Bring it on.

​I can’t deny it. Mary Poppins is one of my favourite characters ever. I fell in love with her as a child - mostly because of the charm that Julie Andrews oozed during the marvellous Disney film. I also enjoyed the Emily Blunt follow on movie, but I don’t think it was quite as marvellous as the first film. That’s why I was quite anxious about going to see the West End Musical. I knew that it couldn’t be identical and that there would be some new songs interjected into it. 
Well… it didn’t disappoint and was actually quite the spectacle!

It’s quite interesting to study the mannerisms of Mary Poppins. For example she like to stand with her heels together in what ballet dancers would call “first position”. This is the iconic pose she maintains whilst her umbrella is open and she floats magestically into the air as she flies around the stage. She also elongates her neck at all times so that her spine appears to be completely straight. There is no slouching in this performance. But, If I were lucky enough to ever get the chance to play this character, the one mannerism I think is key to making the character a success, and so likeable, is her creative expression that she does when inventing the fun games or activities with the children. It’s like she purses her lips together, lifts her cheek bones up and then looks upwards and to one side using only her eyeballs. Julie Andrews did it in a kind of cheeky way, Emily Blunt in a slightly more cunning way, and they used this expression during the performance to great success.

The singing style of Mary Poppins is and in my view should be as close to Julie Andrews as possible. She is perfection. Classically trained soprano, with a high and shimmering tone, yet some how close to speech and easily transitioned into patter. It is a very challenging role for that reason. She must sound as “Practically Perfect” as she professes to be.

It is such a shame that this show is now closed on the West End. But I am so grateful that I was able to go and do some research on the character and the songs before it did. I shall have to get my hands on a vocal score and start learning all the songs just in case they decide to hold auditions again any time soon.