Nicola Said

I suppose I couldn’t have been luckier in that my first professional engagement was as my beloved Zerbinetta, a role I had been dreaming of performing since being introduced to the music over six years ago at the Opera Institute of the Bob Cole Academy in Long Beach, California. Music Director Dr. David Anglin, and director Stephanie Vlahos, bestowed me the gift of singing Zerbinetta in the Prologue. So I rapidly worked with my teacher at the time, the wonderful Shigemi Matsumoto, to rise to the challenge. 

At the time, it was by far the most difficult music I had ever sung, and to be honest, I had not heard it before. I was still very much at the stage of exploring what my voice could do, and still in the process of truly discovering the fabulously diverse and beautiful world of opera. I had only sung German lieder (songs) thus far, so it took me a while to get around all those fast words in German which are written in the role. It was challenging but I fell in love with Zerbinetta immediately. She is such a deep character, a heroine in the way she chooses to live her life, and in my opinion, somewhat of a feminist. I loved her so much that I started learning her big 12 minute aria but had to put it aside for a while as it was just too difficult for me to sing within my capabilities at that time.

Zerbinetta is one of the four key characters in Richard Strauss’ opera Ariadne auf Naxos- a rich Viennese patron has both commissioned a new opera and invited a light entertainment troupe with clowns led by Zerbinetta to perform on the same evening at his home but in the event he also unexpectedly orders fireworks to be let off outside at 9pm so the major domo orders both groups to perform together at the same time! Hence the comedy but the opera also explores profound themes about the nature of culture and entertainment, personal ambition, disappointment and of course there are love interests with Zerbinetta showing unexpected wisdom and sensitivity in her great aria and numerous interactions with the other characters.  

In my final year at Bob Cole, I was given the famous quartet which is the entertainment troupe’s first performance together before Zerbinetta’s big aria. This was huge fun…we performed it in cabaret style and I had to dance on stage (*shock*) which was a little bit unnerving the first time, but I got over the strangeness of it all and threw myself into it…
Then sure enough, in my first year at Guildhall, I was cast in the same scene, and then the quartet that comes after the aria on my second year Opera Course…. It was fate, Zerbinetta and I were bound to each other!

So when last March I auditioned for and was offered the full role, I was ecstatic! I was pretty much spoiled with a fantastic conductor and director in Jonathan Lyness and Richard Studer who are the kindest, nicest, most gentle human beings I can ever imagine working with. Both of them guided me through the process, providing encouragement and making sure that I could deliver my best sound while playing this cheeky showgirl with a heart of gold and a real understanding of life. The interpretation of the piece was very much as a comedy and so our Zerbinetta was a very light-hearted comedienne, which, considering the fact that I had just spent two months preparing and performing the part of a necrophiliac a couple of weeks before in a newly written piece, was a welcome shift to ‘normality’ (if any opera character can be called that!)

The cast was friendly and fun, the set gorgeous and the orchestra played beautifully. It was a really wonderful experience and I shall never forget my first Zerbinetta with the Opera Project at West Green House!

This September I visited Sanremo in order to do a masterclass with Italian soprano, Antonella Banaudi. Masterclasses are a very useful tool for singers, it is a means to discover various tricks of the trade from successful musicians. Different singers have different ways of passing on their knowledge and experiences, and I find that there is always something new that can be learned. A masterclass is a good place to learn by observing others, and if it is an intense masterclass and one spends enough time with the other singers, for making friends J Doing masterclasses in a different country helps me to observe the way other singers work in that country, and since singers often have to travel all over the world to sing, this is a very safe environment to learn how to adapt.

Antonella Banaudi has studied with the great tenors Carlo Bergonzi and Pavarotti. She is a kind and generous woman, and she teaches with passion and is inspiring. She shared stories of her encounters with Bergonzi and Pavarotti, and I felt so humbled by her openness and humility. The masterclasses took place in a small village near San Remo called Porto Maurizio, in Oratorio San Pietro, a beautiful little church overlooking the harbour. We constantly had passing tourists come in to see what was going on.

Throughout the masterclasses, Antonella focused on a strong body and high placement, very much emphasising and supporting the work I have been doing with my teacher Yvonne Kenny. I find that the wonderful thing about masterclasses is that it really helps clarify and strengthen singing technique. Antonella’s Mediterranean directness made sure that I didn’t let my body get lazy, and after a very restful summer, I felt much stronger and physically confident to start on the second year Guildhall opera course!

I have just completed my first year on the Guildhall Opera Course! 3 terms, 3 sets of opera scenes, 5 new scenes experience under my belt, a contemporary opera!
This term has been a breakthrough for me as it has been the first time I’ve done contemporary music, and I can tell you, it has been extremely challenging! In partnership with the Royal Opera House, Guildhall has set up a new MA in Opera Making course, and this year has been its first, with a gifted set of composers and librettists writing for the singers in my year. The course is the first in the world of its kind, and aims to recreate the idea of a composer writing for a specific voice (which is how it was done by past composers like Mozart). The feedback we received was very positive and the work was successful. As singers, it is very important for us to learn the different learning process involved; for example, whereas usually, when doing more traditional music, we are expected to have everything memorised by the time we get to staging rehearsals, this time we were allowed a bit of leniency, and it was perfectly acceptable to learn along the way. I sang the role of Echo in Laurence Osborne and Ruth Mariner’s Narkissus and The Reflektions. It has been the first time I have ever played such a… strange… character…a necrophiliac in fact! My aria consisted of giving a dead guy (Narkissus) a lap dance while singing high coloratura…As a band, we spoke of how he has ruined our lives, we magically bring him back to life calling on the powerful Artemis to do so, only to watch him fall in love with himself and commit suicide…all very dark really. I think saying that the audience was shocked was an understatement…there were at least five seconds when no one clapped because they didn’t know how to feel…… For a while, I’m not sure I did either, until I just let go and kept reminding myself that that’s not me singing up there, it’s Echo!

This year I was offered my first professional role of Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos, and have been rehearsing for that alongside this new opera, together with the Act 4 Figaro Finale; it was certainly a good lesson in learning how to balance two completely different productions simultaneously, as a professional singer has to often deal with studying more than one ongoing role.

I was very fortunate to have been selected as the solo soprano to record with the Commonwealth Youth Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Paul Carroll, Lascia ch’io pianga on their new CD, “The Castle of Mey”.  The music on the CD is absolutely stunning and I am so honoured to have a place on it! Since then I have performed with them at Marlborough House and I look forward to singing new works composed by Maestro Carroll himself sometime in the near future (more about that later)!

The Malta Airport Foundation has launched video following my recent appointment as the Foundation’s Ambassador… it was very fun to film, and we were blessed with some beautiful Maltese weather! Most of you will already have seen the video, but if you haven’t yet watched it, check it out on this website, or on my soprano facebook page www.facebook.com/NicolaSaidSoprano! The Foundation also recently organised a Magazine Interview in Style Magazine, so we had a few photoshoots at the Airport!  

Thanks for reading! That’s it for now, but check back soon for updates!!