[Singing]
Yeesssss.
[Singing]
ahhhhhh.
I’m Nella.
I’m Harry.
And we’re out here meeting Black people slaying it in their lane
‘Cause you know we do that.
Good evening Nella.
Evening Harry.
I was listening to some Opera music the other day and it was literally amazing for my soul.
And I was just like wait, hold on, this isn’t something I associate with my people.
Do you know what I’m saying? And our music is actually amazing.
I feel like Black people do kind of need to tap into that genre, simply because it's like…
I have a lot of apps on my phone that help me sleep and all those apps use classical music.
I would like to know more about it.
So I’ve organised something for us. We are going to change this narrative-
I love saying that word, the narrative.
There you go.
Woo! And I’m gonna win, ‘cause I can sing.
And you can’t, that’s a fact.
Come join me for some tea.
Nella, this is world renowned soprano opera singer Abigail Kelly.
[Singing]
Chef’s kiss, oh my god.
[Singing]
Hey. [Hi]
Nice to meet you.
Lovely to meet you guys.
You have the voice of an angel
Aw thank you.
Absolute angel.
This is the best thing you’ve done so far.
I can’t wait to erm…
actually, you don’t even know what we’re doing yet, do you?
I don’t have time for your games.
Alright so listen, let’s get into it, we need to
go and have a little word with Abigail don’t we?
Now Abigail, I’ve heard a lot of people sing. [Yeah]
But I have never, in my whole life, heard anyone sing like the way you did.
That was breathtaking.
Thank you so much.
Effortless. Absolutely beautiful.
I mean, being from a Black background.
We don't really see a lot of erm, people like ourselves within
you know, that musical background as well at all.
We don’t really see, I don’t even know anyone that’s Black.
How was that for your family and for you to actually navigate through
that and actually come out on top, like how you have now?
Interestingly, one of the first experiences I had with erm,
a music teacher who was in the classical world and in the operatic world,
he just said to me ‘you know you have a Black quality to your voice that we need to iron out”.
Yeah. So that was my initial sort of welcome to the classical world sort of thing. [So what was that like for you?]
I just sort of went ok, I know what you just said is utterly utterly wrong,
and I am from this point on going to block out any of that negativity.
One of the things that I am really passionate about
is just like breaking down the stereotypes of opera singers.
Like this is an opera, I am an opera singer.
[Exactly] This is what opera singers look like.
There are some really big, or were some really big Black opera singers back in the day.
It’s just that we don't necessarily see them.
If you don’t see yourself represented then you don’t think that it's for you.
I love being a Black woman in this industry.
It's really challenging and I love that challenge.
I love that challenge, so yeh it's exciting.
So you’ve got me all hyped up and excited,
so could you talk us through what you're gonna have me and Harry doing today?
You are going to be singing an operatic duet together, in Italian.
Ahhh!!!
I am going to do a little bit of an assessment at the end,
to see which of you has the most potential to become an opera singer.
Do you know what, I accept the challenge…
Wonderful.
Me too.
…whole heartedly, [Brilliant] Abigail erm I’m ready. [Looking forward to it]
May the best operatic singer win. [Sings]
Crazy, you wasn’t expecting that was you?
I really wasn’t. [Laughing]
The first thing I want you to do is I want you to see if you can make this sound. Zzzzzz.
Eh?
Zzzzzz
Yeah. That’s it.
You don’t need to break your neck when doing it.
Who is giving the lesson here?
Sorry. [Exactly]
I’m going to do some work with you individually
Oh ok yeah ‘cause I was gonna say I don’t want to upstage my fellow counterpart here.
Yeeeeeesss.
Yeeeessssss.
This is gonna be harder than I thought.
Ahhhh.
Ahhhhhhhhh. You know I can’t do that vibranium that your doing my sister, please.
Originally I thought it was a thing where if you could sing
and you had passion for singing in front of an audience
you could just be an opera singer. It’s a different level of singing.
[Singing]
Oh hey harmonies, I like it, I like it very nice indeed.
But we're gonna try and do the note that I want.
Oh sorry it's your lesson. I forgot, yeah, there you go.
You are playing the character of Don Giovanni.
He’s a scoundrel, he is a womanizer.
Oh no, I know nothing of the sort. This is so against who I am.
Your bit, you are a character called Zerlina.
And this count Don Giovanni, has been trying to
get you away from your fiancé on your wedding day.
OK.
And he's quite charismatic.
Is he rich?
Yeah.
OK yeah I’m leaving. I’m going. I’m sold.
He’s really rich, he’s really charming
but he is also an absolute scoundrel
[Singing]
Beautiful.
Two three and…
[Singing]
Oh hello.
[Singing]
You think that this is easy isn't it? Yeah?
Wrong and strong. That’s it.
Don’t worry about it if you’ve made up some words that's absolutely fine.
It’s not just, Do-Re-Mi, or A-B-C or do you know what I mean
‘Amazing Grace’, it's very like complicated songs.
So you have to basically multitask and on top of that you have to do
body language, facial expressions you’ve gotta make it a performance.
So you're basically doing five things at once and multitasking is not for me.
Erm I think I’m ready.
I am ready too.
Abigail I will never let you down.
I’ve got a deep Barry White-esque voice.
And I think I can use that along with the fact that I need to try and win her over.
Very hard ‘cause I dont wanna win her over but in this I have to.
I heard him talking about me how I'm crumbling this, that, and the other.
Well we’re just gonna let the performance do the talking.
Nella’s going down.
Honestly she knows this as well,
she’s whispered in my ear many times ‘go easy’ and I said no I’m not.
She’s actually very upset right now that I’m gonna sing.
Look at how I'm dressed, do I look like a man that’s gonna lose?
OK guys, this is it. This is your final challenge.
You both look stunning.
You look the part, you look fantastic.
Lets go. Let’s have it.
Lets have it.
[Singing]
Grazie, grazie, grazie [Everyone claps]
Well I am mighty impressed by the both of you.
And you have both really shown great progress today.
I think Nella you have just really transformed in terms of your tonal quality.
Harry, I was really impressed by the way your voice just soared in this space.
I have to announce that the winner of the challenge today is…
…Harry.
Justice has been served!
She actually said Nella.
No No no no no no nooooo!
That's actually really awkward because she said Nella. [She said Harry]
Wait, Abigail did you say Harry or Nella?
I said Harry. [How dare you?]
It's all over jackie. It's okay.
See this is the kind of dramatic energy that opera needs. [That’s absolutely fine]
And I love that you have that and I want you to channel that into everything you do.
I'm going to forgive you... but not today.
Oh.
I’m over the moon. Haha. Winners win.
I mean my saying Abigail, is we are winning.
So Nella….
Ah you're so dramatic…
How do you think today went?
I think today went really well,
never in a million years would I have thought me and you
would be in tuxedos on a staircase singing
and I feel like we learned a lot today
about what’s it called? Stage presence. [Yeah]
I mean look you are an amazing person you learn very quickly.
[No I don't] Yeah you don’t.
But today was just a day where you know I had the expertise that you probably didn't.
Nella I’ll see you soon. It’s been great.
It’s been lit.
Big shout out to Abigail and Alex today for coming through and blessing us with their expertise
We bloody executed that didn't we. We smashed it.
[We went and smashed it] So er, good stuff.