Little Women & A Most Wanted Man

Little Women 📖 Opera Holland Park 2022

🎶 A perfect summer came to pass. It didn’t come to stay 🎶

This summer I had an absolute dream of a time at @operahollandpark singing Young Beth (Joan of Ark) and covering the principal role of Beth (performed by the lovely @harrieteyley_soprano ❤️)

This production was special in many ways:

🔹 performing in the UK premiere of this amazing opera

🔹 working with OHP for the first time 💙

🔹 meeting @markadamomusic and getting to talk to him about this brilliant score

🔹 getting to share the stage once again with my good friend @charlotte.badham and see her absolutely smash it on stage every show

🔹 spending some quality time with my doppelgänger gals and working on our cover show with @lysannevo92@mairivg & @1000picturespod

🔹 meeting incredible people… singers, creative team, production team, musicians… and being beyond inspired by their work

🔹 working with @ella_marchment and Sian Edwards in the studio. They are both incredible leaders and creators.

🔹 that Joan of Ark costume 🗡

Thank you for having my OHP and for the wonderful memories.

Recently I’ve had the opportunity to work with some composers on new song and opera. It’s been a really interesting process and I’ve enjoyed being able to collaborate and discuss , particularly hearing the composer’s musical and dramatic intentions first hand!

This Summer I performed the role of Annabel Richter in a new chamber opera by Stephen Davismoon called ‘A Most Wanted Man’ based off the novel by John La Carre.

A note from the composer, Stephen Davismoon. (Taken from Liverpool Hope University Website)

“A Most Wanted Man is, I think, a fabulous novel, based on the true life experiences of a man named Murat Kurnaz. This was a young guy of Turkish descent who, while growing up in Germany, became more and more interested in the Islamic faith. He decided he wanted to do a tour of Pakistan, going on a spiritual pilgrimage to visit important mosques and so on. He didn’t tell his mother as he didn’t want to worry her. Then, he made a phone call to his family from Pakistan to let them know where he was. His mother went crazy with worry and phoned the authorities, and he ended up being suspected of being a terrorist and was eventually shipped to Guantanamo Bay - where he was imprisoned and tortured for the next five years, even though his innocence was proven very early on. Kurnaz’s story is one of extraordinary forgiveness, as he doesn’t hold any malice towards his torturers or imprisoners despite his horrendous treatment."

“In his novel, le Carre uses Kurnaz’ experiences to create Chechen character, Issa, who’d escaped from Russian and Turkish prisons before turning up in Germany and immediately being suspected of being a terrorist by the German secret services. All Issa wants to do is claim the wealth that his father has left him to do good for society - to open hospitals and schools, while he wants to train as a doctor. He’s a man of peace, almost childlike. Very few believe him. And he ends up being… a most wanted man - an innocent individual facing extraordinary state power. It’s a story of innocence, betrayal, fear and love, and in a way, is completely timeless.”