SWAP'ra RETREAT APPLICATIONS
applicant information:
FIRST NAME:
FIRST NAME HIDDEN FOR 1ST ROUND
EMAIL:
EMAIL HIDDEN FOR 1ST ROUND
LAST NAME:
LAST NAME HIDDEN FOR 1ST ROUND
PHONE:
PHONE HIDDEN FOR 1ST ROUND
DATE OF BIRTH
Dec 10, 1990
NUMBER OF CHILDREN AND THEIR AGES:
Arthur, 8 months
ARTISTIC TRAINING AND ACHIEVEMENTS PRIOR TO BIRTH OF FIRST CHILD:
I graduated from the Royal College of Music (RCM) International Opera Studio in 2020 and was awarded the Worshipful Company Silver Medal. I was the inaugural Elizabeth Harwood Artist scholar as a Britten Pears Young Artist 2021-2022 and was an Oxford Song Young Artist 2022-2023.
I was a Garsington Opera Alvarez Young Artist in 2021 and 2022. In 2021, I stepped in to make my debut as the Marschallin in Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier and won the Helen Clarke Award.
In the season before I gave birth to my son, I covered at English National Opera and featured with If Opera and Scottish Opera. I also gave recitals at the Oxford International Song Festival and St. John’s Smith Square.
WHY DO YOU WANT TO TAKE PART IN THE SWAP'RA RETREAT?
Working with an exceptional team of creatives would be inspiring and healing for me. The recordings I have on my website are old and do not accurately reflect who I am as an artist now. I signed with my agent a week before giving birth to Arthur and we said at the time it would be good to get new recordings done. Little did I realise how challenging this is when juggling childcare.
I gave birth by C-Section and have been militant about doing the NHS recommended core physio to help with recovery. Whilst this has been helpful, I have found that the physical strain of everyday childcare has had a real impact on my posture and alignment. Trying to squeeze in 20 minutes of practise while my partner takes Arthur for a walk, or while Arthur naps, doesn’t leave much time for concentrated, deep work – or even for the brain-space to know how or where to start. Often, I am so drained that I really want to spend those 20 minutes napping myself or even just having a shower. Having the space and time to focus solely on investing in myself as a creative would be invaluable.
The shift in priorities and sense of perspective that has come from becoming a parent is very grounding. I would like to be able to explore applying this to my career as I feel I am at a critical stage in my development. I have grown, birthed and raised another human being. That is one of the most creative things it is possible to do on this earth. My chosen job, my vocation, is one that needs my full creativity. Not my attempts to live up to somebody else’s (or self-imposed) impossible standards, but my own honest artistic integrity. Becoming a parent has opened this window of opportunity for me. Being gifted the time to explore and take away such an incredible tangible resource, two new recordings that showcase who I am now, would mean the world.
DESCRIBE YOUR PRESENT LIFE AS AN ARTIST AND PLANS FOR THE FUTURE:
I did my first post-partum contract this summer and was thrilled to be part of creating ‘Sherlock Holmes and The Sign of Four’ with the Northern Opera Group. I would love to be able to do more contemporary music. I have a few concerts lined up for the autumn and am trying to get auditions for UK companies. Forthcoming concert work includes featuring at the Oxford International Song Festival, Strauss’ Vier Letzte Lieder with the City of Cambridge Symphony Orchestra and recitals with Sholto Kynoch in Birmingham and Oxford.
My agency would like to recommend me to companies abroad for operas in English, specifically Britten operas. I am a shameless Britten opera nerd. I adore his operas. Peter Grimes was the first opera I ever saw at English National Opera and I vividly remember seeing Opera North’s The Turn of the Screw as a student. I had naively hoped to prepare Governess as a role during my maternity leave (with what time, I now ask myself). I have done as much personal study as I can on the aria (‘How beautiful it is’) and would benefit from performing it to coaches and colleagues and the chance to record it.
To study Britten’s music on the very ground where it was conceived and explore other repertoire that I had previously only ever sung to my kitchen cupboards, would be magical. Having a recording of a Governess aria would mean that I could present myself for the role (mainstage or cover). I love being part of a team and am hard-working, resourceful and reliable. I would love to have the opportunity to cover larger roles (Tatyana, Rusalka, Marschallin, Governess, Mélisande) and perhaps take on small roles (like Second Niece in Peter Grimes) for the large national companies and abroad. I am also looking to explore more orchestral concert repertoire: I am performing Strauss’ Vier Letzte Lieder for the first time in October and hope to perform these again to gain more experience of singing with orchestra.
I don’t currently have any work in the diary from January 2025 onwards.
DO YOU ENVISAGE BRINGING YOUR CHILDREN WITH YOU ON THE COURSE?
I am not yet sure. If I did bring my son (who would be 14 months old by March 2025), it would be either my husband (if he can get the time off work) or my mother who would look after him while I was working.
REFEREE information:
REFEREE 1 NAME:
Fiona Dobie
REFEREE 1 EMAIL:
REFEREE 1 RELATIONSHIP:
Singing Teacher
REFEREE 1 RESPONSE:
Position / Role Held:
Singing Teacher
Length of time you have known applicant:
Since she was 15
In what capacity have you worked with the applicant and when?
I met xxxx at Oxenfoord Summer School when she was 15 and we had sessions each year there. At 18 she got a gap year job in London and would travel to Oxford regularly to have singing lessons.( Voice and Presence) She went off to Durham Uni. came back for a short while after graduating and then went to RCM for postgrad study, choosing to come to diferent workshops I might be co-running in Oxford, eg acting, Feldenkrais etc.during that time. She came back to study again with me a couple of years ago.
Would you recommend the applicant for the SWAP’ra Retreat? Please describe the applicant’s ability and potential to build a successful career in opera/classical singing:
xxxx is such a worthy person to join your retreat. She has a very beautiful voice and her singing and communication skills go from strength to strength. She is an excellent, expressive musician, highly motivated, reliable and a life enhancing colleague.
I believe she has huge potential to go wherever she wants to with her singing. As a young artist she has already had considerable success with Garsington and Scottish Opera and as a recitalist at Britten Pears School and Oxford International Song Festival.
Any other comments:
The wonderful opportunity and space that your retreat would give xxxx would be such a great gift to a young mother, nourishing and replenishing all that's come before from the deeper connection to being human that giving birth to baby xxxxr has given her,
REFEREE 2 NAME:
Susanna Stranders
REFEREE 2 EMAIL:
REFEREE 2 RELATIONSHIP:
Mentor/coach/employer
REFEREE 2 RESPONSE:
Position / Role Held:
Music staff of Royal Opera House
Length of time you have known applicant:
10 years
In what capacity have you worked with the applicant and when?
When xxxx was a student at Oxenfoord International Summer School in 2015 When xxxx sang for Opera Cameratina - for which I am Artistic Director - in 2022 and 2023
Would you recommend the applicant for the SWAP’ra Retreat? Please describe the applicant’s ability and potential to build a successful career in opera/classical singing:
Absolutely. Highly recommend. xxxx is one of the most inspiring women I know. Not only is she a superb singer and artist, but she is a wonderful human being who can connect with people of all ages and stages. A natural communicator, her performing is always driven by text and drama in imaginative and compelling ways, drawing the listener in to each and every word. Her technique has improved year on year and I have every confidence in a long and rich career for xxx within the business. She is also a wonderful mother!
Any other comments:
What an absolutely brilliant concept to host this programme - congratulations to you all!