We have finished our first week of music rehearsals for Turandot and we start staging next week. Tickets can still be obtained from www.sistic.com.sg and more information can be gleaned from the Esplanade Website.

In between rehearsals, I went to the “Performance Platform” of some singers from the vocal faculty from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA). I was very much impressed by the sheer potential in many of the young singers I heard, especially the singers involved in the scenes from The Mikado expertly choreographed and directed by themselves and their Head Nancy Yuen. There were some very exciting (albeit young) voices but all with great stage potential.

It was only at the first music rehearsal with the chorus that I realised that our production of Turandot would not be nearly possible without the hard work and dedication of most of the NAFA music faculty. A large proportion of the chorus are not only made up of voice majors but also the pianists and chinese instrument majors, whilst the western instrumentalists are bumping (for non-british musicians the term refers to musicians augmenting an existing ensemble) The Philharmonic Orchestra. I am immensely enjoying working with all my multi-national colleagues and our maestro Tsung Yeh the ever-supportive music director of both the Singapore Chinese Orchestra and the South Bend Symphony in the US. It is very refreshing to once again work with a conductor who, whilst being very sensitive to a singer’s needs, never lets us forget that we are essentially musicians too and highlights all the musical points that we may be neglecting.

In my somewhat biased opinion it is going to be a cracking show! According to the ad in the Straits Times the top 3 prices are already “limited” so it might be wise to secure your tickets now!

We meet our director tomorrow and I for one am waiting with breath that is bated.

La Fanciulla del West

Playing "Faro" in Act 1 of Fanciulla (Dont you love my bowler hat!

The Boys all lined up by the Bar: A very beautiful set with dark rich woods. (It was a testerone -heavy production with only 1 female lead and no wonen's chorus)

The Act 3 "Lynching scene" where we all got wild with some big guns. Tenor John Hudson is the unlucky chap.

Cynthia - our irrepressible indefatigable Diva.

Bluebeard

The fabulous chorus of GPO 2008, amazing colleagues all, dont you just love the outfits and wigs?

French Peasants being menaced by dancer boys in tights and James Bond swimming outfits.

The Bond Girls and Boulotte (Elena Ferrari) - All wives of the philandering Bluebeard.

Nicole Lisle wrote: “Tan, for me, was the star of the evening; here was a naturally gifted tenor with a gloriously rich and musical voice that instantly captivated and enthralled. I could have listened to him singing You Are My Heart’s Delight from Léhar’s The Land of Smiles all evening.”

Read the whole review here: Oxford Times Review of “Opera for Midsummer”

I was dead chuffed!

The first let-down was an email received 3 days before the performance: Karita MAttila, due to ill health, had cancelled. Well the BBC could sense the furore that would accompany this announcement and thus had to, I cannot imagine at what expense, (probably an amount that eclipsed the GDP of a small developing country) had managed to secure no less starry a replacement then that eminent Straussian, the American Dramatic soprano Christine Brewer to step into the fray (I personally would have preferred Soile Isokoski whom I heard do a amazing Countess at ROH a year or 2 ago ['the most technically brilliant voice I have heard all year at ROH' -Richard Morrison] and whose Strauss Orchestral Songs album I play incessantly but then again we all have our impossible dreams).

I am slightly embarrassed to admit that it was my first time attending any sort of “classical” concert at the Royal Albert Hall, let alone a Prom. As the first piece started, Strauss’ Festliches Präludium, I realised that my attendance to many more might be severely curtailed by the woeful, nay dastardly acoustic of the venue. Where I was sitting, the front of the Stalls Circle there was almost a deleayed echo from the back of the hall and in no way does the acoustic do any favours to any soloist, which was borne out by the fact that the Oboe Soloist Nicholas Daniel (a tries-too-hard-to-be-cheeky-chappie technically-secure dynamically-very varied middle-aged ex-BBC Young Musician of the Year) in Mozart’s Oboe Concerto in C Major had to pull out all the stops to draw the audience in. His self-penned cadenza for the first movement gave oboe neophytes (like oneself) a masterclass on the variety of tone colour and dynamic range a modern oboe can produce under capable hands. A little less mugging and cheeky grins (apparently meaning to highlight certain musical points) to the audience would be appreciated though.

Christine Brewer came out in a cream (echoing the legendary creaminess of her voice perhaps?) dress with diaphanous blue trumpet-sleeved chiffon coat with a monster of a train. The voice and all its warmth and security in the middle register did carry over the cavernous acoustic but one longed for that intimacy and directness that would be received in a acoustic that was more tailored to a classical concert let alone one with a vocal soloist. Her glittering high notes soared but again was swallowed up by the abyss of the RAH. In compensation, Strauss’ music won the day (but doesnt it always?). THe transcendental and sublime nature of the 4 Last Songs must be one of the most cathartic pieces of music and one cannot help but feel transfigured after experiencing it. I just hope the next time I hear them I would feel like the soloist was singing to me and not in a giant hat box pretending to be a concert venue. On another note, I felt that heart melting violin solo in Beim Schlafenhegen was played a little too fast and with too much vibrato, was this a strategy to combat the acoustic? Ms. Brewer’s vocal echo of that theme found it self more evenly paced and allowed the music time to settle and breathe to full sublime effect.

I cannot help but think that in the end it might have been better to stay at home and catch it on TV or Radio where I feel the Proms really comes into its own as a tool of mass public education and entertainment. At least you do not have to contend then with the acoustics and, being a fully-paid TV licensee, I have already bought all my tickets and have the best seat in the house!

Just finished my Grange Park Opera contract 2 weeks ago and looking forward to flying back to Singapore to start rehearsals for Turandot with the Singapore Lyric Opera. Am singing Pang, one of the 3 ministers/jesters and apparently “the general purveyor of the court”, a sizeable role with a lot of stage time and very suitable for my vocal development at the moment. Martin my Bass-Baritone friend who now lives in Verona is also being flown back to sing Timur, Calaf’s (of ‘Nessun Dorma’ fame) father. He is only in his early 30s, I hope the make-up crew are good enough to age him 30+ years!

Did a Opera Gala Concert in Oxford at the Jacqueline du Pre Recital Hall last Friday under the auspices of The Little Opera Company a small company that 2 of my friends and classmates from the Royal Academy have set up. It went very well, sang the Act 1 DDuet from L’Elisir d’Amore, Lionel’s aria from Martha and some Lehar duets perennial favourites ie. The Merry Widow waltz and ‘You are my Heart’s Delight’. My friend Rob came down and we stayed the night (a bit of a post-contract treat: they were doing cheap summer rates) at the Malmaison: a hotel in the converted prison of Oxford Castle!

Singing a Mozart Requiem with some friends from GPO in Blackheath this sunday. Then off to Singapore a the week after. Will update more this weekend.