Kate Royal

Kate Royal is performing in the Florentine Opera's Viva Opera! March 16 and 18.

Photo: Jason Joyce

When Florentine Opera’s upcoming Viva Opera! takes the Uihlein Hall stage March 16 and March 18, the annual performances of opera’s greatest works will feature award-winning English lyric soprano Kate Royal, who’s making her Milwaukee debut.

The London-born Royal will join soprano Rena Harms, baritone Keith Phares, the Florentine Opera Chorus and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in performing excerpts from Madama Butterfly, Nabucco, Carmen, La Bohème, The Pearl Fishers and others. It’s a selection that Florentine general director William Florescu calls “a veritable smorgasbord of beloved opera favorites.”

One of the brightest lights onstage will be Royal, who has performed with the London Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala Milan and countless others. She records exclusively for EMI Classics.

The Wisconsin Gazette caught up with Royal by phone at her home in the U.K. to learn more about the soprano and what Milwaukee audiences can expect from her local debut.

 

WiG: When did you first know you wanted to become a professional opera singer? 

Kate Royal: As a teenager I was immersed in the world of amateur dramatics, so I was performing regularly from a very young age. My mother was a dancer and my father at the time was a pop singer/songwriter, so I was surrounded by music. 

My voice was not naturally suited to musical theater — despite my best efforts — and I was lucky enough to have found a good teacher of classical singing who introduced me to Mozart. From then on, I didn’t look back. I felt it was a world that I belonged to and it was a kind of rebellion against my parents.

 

Do you have a specific opera or composer that creates the greatest emotional response in you?

Mozart, Strauss and Schumann. It is hard to explain why these composers “fit” the voice. Not only their compositional style, but also their choice of librettists and poets just speak to me. I was never particularly drawn to the classics. I came at it from the words and drama first. 

 

What do you find to be most challenging about opera? 

Every element of it is a challenge. It is a puzzle that one must carefully construct, beginning with the score, slowly working toward bringing the words and music off the page and turning them into a believable character. 

Once that character is alive, you begin integrating it into the rehearsals with the other characters. 

Once you are rehearsing onstage, with the orchestra, you then can find the character’s arc — where you can hold back vocally and where you can allow yourself to fly. It’s a balancing act and never the same one twice.

 

What opera stars do you most admire?

I admire any singer who has withstood the rigors of the singing lifestyle. Things came to me very easily at first and youth and talent go a long way, but getting over that hurdle in the middle of your career is hard and it takes grit and determination. 

The voice is ever changing. You have to be self-critical, but also self-loving and willing to adapt all the time. I admire Renee Fleming for managing to stay at the top for so long. I can’t imagine that kind of pressure and scrutiny. Those who can overcome the mind game that is singing are those that I admire. 

 

What is the most important role you’ve sung?

Probably the great role of Marschallin (in Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier). I felt I really made her my own and blew away some of the cobwebs that surround the opera. 

People are scared of change and when I looked into the libretto, I found some surprising truths about the character. I found her to be so modern and forward-thinking and not at all the middle-aged woman staring into the mirror that has come to be her image. 

 

What training regimen do you follow to keep your voice in good shape? 

My love for ale has had to take a little side step, unfortunately.

I believe, however, all things in moderation and when your instrument is your body, you learn to take care but not to go over the top. 

I spend a lot of time practicing. Not just singing through pieces, but technically working tiny elements of the voice to keep it in good shape. I don’t know why but I never seem to get bored with it. 

 

What advice do you have for would-be operatic sopranos? 

I was always told to “be careful” as a student, but I never really knew what that meant. 

You can’t half sing. You’re either in it or you’re not. There is always the worry of doing too much too soon, but really, you have to have a stable technique. Body connection is everything. 

 

If you couldn’t sing opera, what would you be doing with your life? 

I spend quite a bit of time at home looking after my two kids and I love the domesticity of that. I love cooking and sewing name labels and making dress-up outfits. I discovered a whole new bit of my personality that I never knew existed.

Another career other than singing never occurred to me. I am very interested in psychology, so I guess it would be that route. You have to look deeply into yourself as an artist and I have learned many things about the mind from my own experiences and talking to many performers. It fascinates me.

 

What’s your best-kept secret?

I can tap dance!

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