You Saw It Here First
The history of Opera is littered with examples of singers achieving overnight fame, and catapulting from obscurity to world renown, in the blink of an eye. The story of the penniless understudy, who stumbles blinking into the footlights and on to the stage after a star has taken ill, is legendary but in reality, quite rare. However, the Festive Season of 2021/2022 has been something of an eye-opener, and it is with a certain amount of pride that the Edinburgh Music Review can reveal to our readers that we have taken over from Mystic Meg as the place to come for successful predictions!
Freddie De Tommaso
In 2021, we published two fascinating interviews with young singers who I considered were going to be great performers in the future. I interviewed the fabulous young Anglo-Italian tenor, Freddie De Tommaso, a singer I had come across a few years ago in a semi-chorus at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and who had just released a new CD of Italian songs, ‘Passione’. He had won a couple of prestigious singing competitions in Europe and was beginning to be noticed in opera circles as someone to watch. At only 28, he seemed to have a good future, and was being well supported by both family and artistic management. Our interview was quite wide-ranging and touched on many subjects of interest, especially the danger of too much too soon for young singers, who are famously at the mercy of unscrupulous agents and recording labels. The conclusion I came to was that Freddie was being very sensibly nurtured, and great care was being taken to allow him to mature at a proper speed. He sang at the Vienna State Opera, and appeared at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, and was due to sing a couple of performances of Cavaradossi in Puccini’s ‘Tosca’ at Covent Garden, but in the middle of a run of shows, and somewhat under the radar.
However, on the 8th December, the American tenor Bryan Hymel, who was singing the role of Cavaradossi, became ill at the first interval, and Freddie took over to enormous acclaim. “Young British tenor saves the day!” was one of the least dramatic headlines in the following days, and so when he sang the performances that he had been scheduled to sing, it was the hottest ticket in London. Coming just as the scare about the Omicron Variant of Covid was becoming known, Freddie was in all the newspapers and magnificently in the limelight.
Obviously, you have to be good to be in the position to understudy at Covent Garden, and you also have to grasp the chance when it comes, but Freddie has really hit the big time. I have been able to chat with him several times since December 8th, and I reckon he is keeping his feet firmly on the ground, but it must be hard to keep calm in the wake of reviews proclaiming you as “the new Pavarotti”. Indeed the late great tenor himself made a triumphant debut at Covent Garden as an understudy back in the 60s. My best advice for Freddie now is to become the first De Tommaso, rather than the new Pavarotti. In fact, his voice is potentially much bigger and more dramatic than his predecessor, but that will make his future more complicated, as however good he is now, he should at all costs avoid the heavy roles for now, roles which will come with maturity. As I said, though, he is being well advised, and I hope he will be singing spectacularly for many years to come. Meanwhile, you can listen to his new album, ‘Passione’, which has gone to Number 1 in the Classical Charts (if that means anything!), released on the Decca label. It is very good indeed!
Read the interview with Freddie De Tommaso here.
Beth Taylor
The other interview I conducted for the EMR in 2021 was with the brilliant young Scottish mezzo-soprano, Beth Taylor. The same age as Freddie De Tommaso, Beth sang with me in a Mozart Requiem in Glasgow Cathedral a couple of years ago, and I was immensely impressed by her beautiful voice and intelligent musicianship. We performed a recital together in August during the Edinburgh Festival in St Michael’s Church in Slateford Road, with Michał Gajzler as accompanist, some of which will be released as a CD very soon. We sang Tom Cunningham’s song cycle ‘Songs of Edinburgh’, with words by Alexander McCall Smith, and this witty and poignant description of Edinburgh in words and music showed off Beth’s vocal and interpretational skills extremely well. I felt the singing of the older Scottish bass was quite good too. But then I would, wouldn’t I? Information about the CD will appear on the EMR, on release.
Since August, Beth has been singing all over Europe, especially in Berlin at the Deutsche Oper and also at the Frankfurt Opera. Our interview was extremely interesting, and her description of the horrors of life after Brexit hit home hard. She is a special young lady, and I was much moved by her honesty and compassion, and we have already made plans for another recital next year, and hopefully another recording.
Just after New Year, I heard from her that, while rehearsing and performing Wagner’s ‘Ring Cycle’ in Berlin, where she is singing a Valkyrie and a Norn, conducted by Sir Donald Runnicles, my old school friend and another of my EMR interviewees, the singer who was to sing Erda, the Earth Goddess, in ‘Das Rheingold’ had fallen ill with Covid. Beth, as well as singing her smaller roles, was also the understudy Erda, and so she went on to sing Erda herself this week, to great acclaim. She has had a marvellous success with the public and has apparently impressed Donald so much that he has asked her to sing in some concerts he will conduct soon. More details to follow when I get them. Beth has a unique voice, and a huge range, and can sing roles from contralto to high mezzo. Her technique is superb, and she sings seamlessly throughout the voice registers. It was a pleasure to sing with her last year, and I hope we can do more together this year (if she has space in her busy schedule!).
Read the interview with Beth Taylor here.
One final little EMR boast is that, in my article about sopranos, Part 3, I predicted a fine future for two of my students from my time as Honorary Professor of Singing at St Andrews University, Caroline Taylor (no relative) and Catherine Hooper. I am happy to report that in the prestigious Emmy Destinn Singing competition in London, showcasing Czech music, Catherine made it to the final, and Caroline won First Prize. Congratulations are due to both of these fine young singers. I hope to be singing with Caroline this year during the Edinburgh Festival, once again at St Michael’s Church. Watch the EMR for details.
