An Interview with Charlotte Hoather, My Favorite Classical Soprano
Today I have invited the brilliant soprano Charlotte Hoather for tea. She’s British, so I know she likes tea. Me, I’ll stick with coffee. I somehow got directed to Charlotte’s blog a number of years ago, when she was first enrolled in the Royal College of Music in the Master’s Program. It was a wonderful blunder because I’ve been enjoying her voice and her professional growth ever since. by Frank Dresch Since she is the first profession singer I’ve ever met, I have a lot of questions for her! Charlotte, when did you start singing? My older brother and I used to watch Disney Sing-a-Long videos from about the age of two, and I started singing when I was about two, at least that’s what I used to call it, I would watch Disney Sing-a-Long and Barney with my brother. But I started singing on stage from the age of 6, my first role was Thumbelina in a stage-school production. When I was 12, I started taking 30-minute private singing lessons and it has built up from there, culminating with my Master’s Degree at the Royal College of Music, London. I’m most familiar with your classical singing, but what were the first things you sang? Disney songs, Spice Girls, Steps and Britney Spears. This then progressed into Musical Theatre songs, then folk songs, then classical songs and arias in a range of languages. I know you still sing Disney songs. I heard Let It Go which you sang from your balcony. It probably made a lot of little girls happy! When did you first sing in public? I won a competition held by Oasis Holiday Resort in the UK at the age of three when I sang 5,6,7,8 by Steps, completely unrehearsed. The prize was a free meal for all my family and free cinema tickets, much to the despair of my big brother who had also entered with a practiced routine. I would have liked to see that! When did you decide you wanted to become a professional singer? If you asked me at 11, I would have told you I was going to be a dancer. I studied ballet, tap, Latin, ballroom, contemporary and jazz dancing with a real passion. However, from about the age of 15, I began to explore operatic singing and fell in love with the flamboyance and difficulty of this genre. I could use the dancing and stagecraft skills towards this but potentially have a longer performing career. That was a pretty momentous decision. How did it change your life? I went to a state school with very few opportunities for training in classical music. I was lucky that I had a very supportive family, who traveled the northwest of England with me so that I could participate in music federation competitions. At these events, I could learn from other singers for the first time and get intensive feedback from experts in the genre. These opportunities made me realize how much I wanted to follow this passion into a career. I was aware of how big a part of your life your family is from your blogs during your days at the Royal Academy of Music. Even though your secondary education did not support musical training, was there some important thing you learned during those years? Secondary education in the UK is from 11-18. The most important thing that I learned from High School was to do what you love and seek out your own opportunities to achieve it. I found external teachers, educational programs, competitions and I studied hard to complete my compulsory subjects alongside my music passions. I learnt to be educationally independent and this skill has helped me tremendously throughout my degree and now as I embark a career in opera. I doubt many of my followers know a classically trained singer. Is your chosen profession difficult to break into? Yes, because it is extremely competitive. I am a trained soprano, there are more sopranos than any other voice type. For example in ‘By Voice Alone’, a 2019 competition in London, their statistics showed that 61% of the competitors were sopranos! And that’s lower than normal. In international competitions, 85% of competitors are sopranos, with the remaining 15% making up the other 5 voice types. Charlotte Hoather, winning the prestigious Pendine International Voice of the Future competition at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod So you are facing the biggest challenge because of your range! I’ve often wondered if singing professionally is like acting. Are you nervous before a performance? How do you calm your nerves? I do always get some butterflies before walking on stage, but once I begin, they start to settle, and I can release into the performance. Here are some coping mechanisms I use: Acknowledge your preparation. You have put the hours in, you know your music, you know your character – trust that you will deliver. Try not to focus on external judgement, when you are singing/speaking in public, you can only hear your own thoughts so be kind to yourself and accept mistakes with a smile and aim to tell the story. Breathing exercises. I close my eyes and breathe in for 4 counts and out for 4 counts. I will repeat this until I feel calm. Great advice! I used to do the same thing when I gave guest lectures and lectures at international meetings. Except maybe for the breathing. 🙂 What do you do each day to exercise your voice? Every day I try to do technical exercises for 30 minutes. These consist of lip trills, a variety of scales and arpeggios. Each exercise builds on from the previous, I will extend the range sung or change the speed. Usually, I will sing these exercises to pure vowels (i, e, a, o, u) and then introduce consonants to warm up the tongue. I aim to sing for at least 2 hours per day. But there is lots of work to be done away
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