Former opera student to sing Dido’s Lament

Virginia Frith, one of our students on the Opera Higher Education Certificate, talks about her experience of the course and her upcoming performance singing Dido in March

'As a person who works full-time I found the Birkbeck Opera Higher Education Certificate course to be one of London’s forerunners in providing professional standard opera performance training on a part-time/ evening basis.  One of the best features of the course is working with leading directors of opera companies and interpreting their vision of the scenes.  Another feature of the course is working with a variety of different coaches who have a lot of experience working with singers of all standards.

The Higher Certificate is organised as it would be if you were working in a professional opera company, ie you learn to self-manage and attend scheduled rehearsals promptly.  You also learn the necessity of working within a team so that you don’t let your colleagues down through absence.

One of the major skills I learnt throughout the acting and movement aspects of the course was how to discover the “truth” in the acting and interpretation of the music, both physically and psychologically.  Movement classes also concentrated on maintaining correct physical presence and technique in order to sustain a singing career.

As the year is broken into terms, each term we learnt a new scene from a different period in opera so that we not only learnt new repertoire but also came to understand that repertoire within the musical context in which it was composed and first performed.

Music history lessons gave greater weight to the practical, and it was especially helpful to compare and contrast the different styles of each period through the visual aid of recorded performances.

Of course like all music courses the people you meet are invaluable and I found I have made and kept many friends and contacts who continue to inspire me and enhance my performances. I have gone onto be involved in various performances with these singers.

Since the course has finished I have been involved in an opera/ cabaret crossover show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, continue to sing as a soloist for various choral societies in London, am currently enrolled in the Morley Opera Course learning more material and will be singing Dido in Dido’s Lament in a production in March 2011 for a company based in Queens Park.'