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I joined the RCM as a postgraduate, and it was a bit of a shock to the system actually, coming from
university to conservatoire life, and I’d say that I was just astounded by my peers and what
was surrounding me: the orchestras, the ensembles, and actually, always being surrounded by music was
a really beautiful thing to, sort of, dive into at that time, and I knew very little about opera as
well, so going to College operas and experiencing that for the very first time was hugely exciting.
It’s not something I essentially started out with the intention of developing.
It was just – I realised that I wanted to say certain things, I wanted to understand
certain things, and that was all related to story-telling – whose stories are told?
Which stories haven’t we heard? And who decides which stories we’re told?
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That has informed both my singing and the projects that I’ve developed,
so I was really keen to look into music that had been suppressed or censored,
specifically music that was banned by the Third Reich in Austria and Germany. So, I developed
a project around that, and through that, then, the writing started to develop as a side-line,
because I was writing about that project. And so, everything started to influence
the next thing, and before I knew it, I was building up the so-called ‘portfolio career’.
So the project Rediscovering Black Portraiture was informed, essentially, in the beginning, by
my ancestry research, and I was kind of disgruntled that I wasn’t seeing any of my
Black ancestors represented in the research that I was undertaking, and I was finding lots of gaps
and empty spaces – sometimes a name, sometimes nothing at all – and I realised that this was
a common experience for many people, and it coincided with seeing the Getty Museum
Challenge on social media. I was scrolling through and I was looking at all of these really famous
images that we know and love, and I realised after a while that I wasn’t seeing many Black
faces, or people of colour, and I thought, well, maybe it’ll be fun to try one of these myself, and
let’s see if I can find someone who has hair similar to mine, you know, or something like that.
So I started with one, and very quickly realised that there was an appetite for this, and
people were interested by the stories and the biographies of the people in the pictures. And so,
it became an opportunity, like banned or suppressed music, to
uncover some of these histories, and give them space, and do it in a playful way.
I was really keen to recreate a picture of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, and that was because when I was
at College, one of the first things I did was buy a postcard of Coleridge-Taylor that
they were selling in the foyer, and I had this pinned to my wall
when I was living in halls of residence, and it was a sort of talisman, an inspirational
role model, and someone who had overcome adversity to reach the top, and became
a hugely successful and well-loved figure in the country, and died tragically at such an early age,
but created this hugely influential body of work. Some of it isn’t even known today! Yeah,
I’m really attached to any image of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, actually, because it was such a
fortifying aspect of my time at College, to have him as an alum, and a role model as well.
English National Opera’s Breathe programme has been really inspirational,
and using breathing and well-being as a way of
helping people who are suffering from the effects of Covid-19 – that’s been
great, to see how singing can be used in such a positive way, and reach so many different people.
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I’d say that, in terms of representation, for me, it always comes back to the story-telling and the
stories we’re telling through our art-form, and if we tell stories that people see themselves
represented in, then they will feel that there is a space for them within the industry,
and they will also feel like they can bring more of themselves to the table as well. So, I think
it’s a ridiculous thing that we’re still having to talk about it, because it’s simple, really –
it’s making all feel welcome, and enjoying the fact that it only enriches what we do.
I’d say that it’s still really early days, without organisations functioning in the way that they are
used to. But I’d say what is exciting is conversations with organisations that have been
really punching above their weight for a long time, and not really getting as
much recognition as they should. So I’m a huge champion of the work and ethos of Pegasus Opera,
and what they do to champion representation within their organisation, and who is seen on stage, and
the voices that are heard through the organisation, and whose voices are platformed.
I think, for young people, representation – seeing it in our industry – is a way of
feeling that there is a space for them, and they don’t have to do
something extra as a consequence of what they look like,
because there are a variety of voices being heard within the industry and there is equity.
Work very hard… but also, I love the American soprano Leontyne Price
said, in many of her interviews, that you should always enjoy making music. And, I think, sometimes
it’s easy to forget that and really enjoy that you are able to do it, and take pleasure from
the act of being able to express yourself in this way, and I feel very lucky that I’m able to do it.
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Coming up, I’m going to be writing and presenting a new series for Radio 3, and after that, I’ll be
going to La Monnaie Opera in Brussels to make my debut there which I’m really excited about!