The magic of Opera North
Opera stars Emyr Wyn Jones and Pasquale Orchard, coming to Newcastle Theatre Royal with Opera North, tell David Whetstone why The Magic Flute is just p-p-p-p-perfect
It’s “the ideal introduction to opera for everyone, packed with fantasy, romance and daring”.
That’s what Opera North say about Mozart’s last opera, The Magic Flute.
Just two months after its Vienna premiere in 1791, the composer died aged 35 and his scintillating talent was lost forever.
But the opera became a great favourite and it’s coming soon to the Theatre Royal, courtesy of Opera North, and again next March when there’s also to be a shorter children’s performance, The Magic Flute Lite.
Emyr Wyn Jones and Pasquale Orchard play two loveable key characters - Papageno, the bird catcher, and Papagena with whom he falls instantly in love.
Their famously catchy duet is all “Pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa” and hence great fun.
But how were these young Opera North singers introduced to their chosen artform?
Bass-baritone Emyr, praised by a critic as “a genuine, natural comic”, is a proud Welshman (how did you guess?) from ‘the valleys’ but says the idea of his countrymen being born to choral singing and rugby is a little stereotypical.
Well, rugby less so perhaps. Emyr as a youngster was desperate to play professionally.
But while Aberdare, where he grew up, hosted the first National Eisteddfod and has a prominent statue of a famous choral conductor, Griffith Rhys Jones, popularly known as Caradog, he says its best known musical export these days is the rock band Stereophonics.
And he insists anyone expressing an interest in singing or theatre had a Billy Elliot-style mountain to climb. It wasn’t considered “cool”.
“At school there were about five people who were the singers and it was as if they were kept in this little cage and no-one else could get in,” he recalls.
“But I was more of a joker really. I loved comedy.”
Two things helped to shape his ambition. As a youngster he saw Les Misérables and was blown away, not just by the spectacle but by the casting of John Owen-Jones.
“I couldn’t believe someone from Burry Port (Carmarthenshire) was playing Valjean.”
Then there was Only Boys Aloud. His dad had been a fan of the choir Only Men Aloud and when founder Tim Rhys-Evans set up the boys’ spin-off in 2010, Emyr, then 17, signed up.
He was in the choir when it reached the final of Britain’s Got Talent in 2012 and there was no going back.
He credits Only Boys Aloud with steering him towards the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and a realisation that a singing actor was what he wanted to become rather than an actor who could sing.
Billy Elliot anxieties dispelled, he went on to the National Opera Studio and so to a busy career which has seen him perform a variety of roles, including Colline in La bohème which brought him to the Theatre Royal in 2019.
The Puccini opera is very sad. The Magic Flute is the opposite and Emyr won’t have a work said against it.
“Some people say it’s like pantomime but I can honestly say singing Papageno is an absolute dream for me,” he says.
He cites trust in director James Brining as part of the pleasure along with the laughter shared in rehearsal with Pasquale.
She laughs too at the thought of it.
“Emyr and I get along like a house on fire. It’s quite sweet, our accents on stage, because no matter how hard I try I sound Kiwi, and I’m very proud to be Kiwi, and Emyr is very proudly Welsh.
“But rehearsing the dancing was absolutely hilarious. I don’t have to pretend to be happy in that duet.”
Pasquale sounds as if she were born to perform, starting dance classes at three and singing lessons at five because a speech therapist had suggested it would help her overcome verbal dyspraxia (difficulty in forming words).
But she took to it with gusto and an early ambition to do musical theatre was thrown when her mother took her to the opera for the first time.
It was a performance of The Magic Flute in Wellington and afterwards Pasquale couldn’t stop singing the Queen of the Night aria. She remembers other theatre-goers laughing in the carpark.
She did well with her singing in New Zealand and reflects gratefully on the support she had. But the plan was always to further her training overseas and the opportunity duly arose.
Her prize for doing well in a singing competition in Australia was a full scholarship to study for a year at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.
“I said, ‘Where’s that?’ I had no idea of the geography of the UK. But I came over to study in 2019 just before Covid hit.
“I stayed through Covid and it was pretty rough. I was in a student hall and I ate a lot of pasta. But my singing teacher went above and beyond, giving me more lessons on Zoom and FaceTime than I could ever have asked for.
“Vocally I made a lot of improvement.”
Her studies were extended and afterwards she auditioned successfully for the Opera North Chorus which is not all that it sounds, being a pool of talented singers who perform choral duties while also being individual artists free to audition for leading roles.
Pasquale landed Papagena and is also covering for Claire Lees as Pamina, a role she will take over inThe Magic Flute Lite next year.
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Happily settled in the UK now – she and her partner have just bought a house near Leeds – Pasquale says Opera North is a wonderful substitute for her own family who are so far away.
And life, she says cheerfully, is good.
“I work very hard and take it very seriously but I realise I’m very lucky to be living my dream every day.
“Not everyone gets to put on silly wigs and costumes and sing lovely music with a full orchestra. I really am living the dream.
“Mum says something very corny – that the light switch to my soul turns on when I’m on stage. It’s my happy place.”
As for recommending The Magic Flute, she says: “Forgive the pun but the music is magical. Then you’ve got the whole spectrum of characters, light-hearted and more serious. It’s got something for everyone really.”
See The Magic Flute on Friday, November 8 (7pm) or Saturday, November 9 (2.30pm) during the week when Opera North will also perform A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Nov 6) and Ruddigore (Nov 7).
Tickets from the Theatre Royal website at www.theatreroyal.co.uk