‘You’ll walk away humming something’

The lesser spotted artform of opera makes a rare appearance in Cavan Town this Friday as the Ulster Touring Orchestra (UTO) perform the Barber of Seville.

Cavan isn’t the only provincial town to which the Belfast based opera is bringing Rossini’s beloved comedy - it has already played Armagh and Letterkenny. The night before singer Sarah Richmond takes the Celt’s call, the UTO had performed a mix of choral music and arias in Enniskillen’s Ardowen Theatre.

“Wow,” is Sarah’s response when explained that no one in the Celt office can recall any opera in the county - and definitely in the county town - for the last 15 years at least.

Sarah says their artistic director Dafydd Hall Williams, whom she affectionately calls Daff, insists on performing in opera no-go zones.

“I really love that because you get such a different response from the audience. There’s so much more,” she pauses to locate the elusive word, and settles on “curiosity”.

“Curiosity; enthusiasm. They’re like - ‘What is that?’ It’s fresh ears in a way. So I really love the way Daff is setting out to do that all across Ulster and a variety of different places.”

The opera houses in which the classics are usually performed have a huge capacity - Milan’s La Scala sits 1,800, the Royal Opera House in London, 2,256 while the Met on Broadway sits an eye-squinting 3,800. Venues such as the Townhall, Cavan with low three digit capacities necessarily alters the nature of the operatic beast.

“It’s totally different, totally different.

“Whenever you are in small venues like this, you can be much more realistic with your acting because the audience can actually see you. In these huge venues you have to do really over the top expressions in your acting, but in smaller venues like this you feel much more connected with the audience.

“And there’s feedback! You notice when the audience jumps or laughs or chuckles - you can feel the energy much more in the auditorium when it’s small. So it’s fantastic to be able to perform in that intimate setting - it really does change the vibe of what you are doing.”

The modest capacities however does dictate some scaling back. Rather than the usual full orchestra, here the live music is provided by a clarinet player and renowned pianist, Gary Matthewman who Sarah lauds as “one of the best”.

While the cast boasts a wealth of international of talent - South African baritone Njabulo Madlala (Figaro), rising English star Jack Roberts (Lindoro)and Spanish soprano Lorena Paz Nieto (Berta) - Sarah and Malachy Frame (Basilio), are both homegrown.

“I love what Daff has done with the mix - ‘Look I have brought all these amazing people over, but also we have local amazing people too’,” she says.

If novelty is a factor in drawing some to the Townhall this Friday, Sarah assures that such curious cats will be in for an enjoyable experience.

“It’s a really good one to see for your first one because we are using the English National Opera translation - so we are doing it in English.

“That always means people are more able to immediately connect with it. If I was going to guess what put people off opera, it’s this thing: ‘I’m not going to understand that’, whereas this is literally in English.

“It’s a comedy, it’s really funny and there’s beautiful music, so it’s a great night out.”

The play opens with ‘Largo al factotum’ a name with which few may be familiar, but a tune that everyone has richoceting around their sub-conscious.

Sarah dah, da-da-das the opening bar for the Celt, and even in this snippet the astonishing quality of her singing voice shines through. Her character also sings another crowd pleaser, ‘Una voce poco fa’.

“You’ll walk away humming something. There’s some music where you go - ‘What was that?’ And you’ll walk away not remembering any of the tunes. But this has so many good melodies, something will stay with you.”

Billed as a tale of “bribery, deception and disguise” the town barber Figaro tries to help his friend Rosina escape the clutches of the rather unpleasant Dr Bartolo and escape with her true love.

“It’s really not a good situation,” she says of Rosina’s relationship with Dr Bartolo. “This older man, he’s controlling, he’s border-line abusive, and she does not want to be with him.”

Rossini wrote the libretto - the opera’s lyrics - based on a French comedy of the same name - and it premièred in 1816.

“It’s set back in the olden days when women needed a man to look after them, and women weren’t given a lot of freedom in society,” she observes.

“The guy literally locks the windows so she can’t escape, and it’s about her trying to come up with an idea to get out of the house and run away with Lindoro who has been coming to her window and singing for her every night.

“It could very easily be a very dark situation, but it’s written as a comedy,” she assures. “So there’s loads of funny bits written in.”

She emphasises that while this production does contain one serious element, it leans heavily towards the comedic.

“It’s about them [Figaro and Rosina] hatching this plan that involves disguises, and potions and all these tricks to try to get Rosina her freedom.

“We discover at the beginning of the opera that she wants to be a doctor, just like Dr Bartolo, but because she is a woman, she is not allowed to.

“So we go on a journey to find out if she is able to get what she wants in life. Is she able to get out of this house, and is she able to get Lindoro, and is she able to become a doctor?”

Sarah marvels at how old classics have themes that resonate with modern audiences.

“Okay we don’t live in the 1800s anymore, but we can still understand the struggles of someone feeling trapped in their life, and someone relying on their friends.”

While this production is an English translation, at times Sarah’s pronunciation of the song titles in Italian is impressive. The Celt wonders if Sarah is fluent in the traditionally popular languages of opera.

“Oh gosh no!”

“I’ll learn every word of what I’m singing, but I’m not able to hold a conversation, unless - I speak exclusively in lyrics! Speaking in lyrics only gets you so far,” she quips.

She reveals she is currently learning German. While Sarah doesn’t require any potions or trickery to flee the Ulster Touring Orchestra, her language course reflects her desire to look to the horizon.

She has a 10 year old son, Jamie, whose age, it emerges is a crucial concern for Sarah, a mezzo-soprano - whose range is slightly lower than a soprano.

“My voice type tends to be at its best when you’re mid-30s,” she explains. “So I planned my child quite young, so that by the time I was mid-30s I was able to travel. So that’s where I am now - I’m mid-30s with a 10 year old son so I am able to go anywhere to perform at any of the houses around Europe.”

So why learn German as opposed to Italian or French?

“There’s just so many performance opportunities in Germany, and over here our arts council just keeps getting cut and cut and cut. In Germany they really support the arts, so it’s kind of like - should I move to Germany to keep doing what I love doing?”

Sarah loves bringing Jamie along when she travels to perform, noting he’s enjoying “a really cool life”.

“I just want to show him, there’s so much more than where you’re born. It’s one of my favourite things about this career.

“Every one should have an open mind and try to meet people from different places because life is so much more than the one place you know of.”