Tag Archives: opera

Interview with Bernice Chitiul

This interview took place online on 25 August 2020 between City’s Head of the Department of Music, Dr Ian Pace, and BMus graduate Bernice Chitiul.

Ian Pace: Today’s interview is with Bernice Chitiul, who graduated from the BMus programme in 2017. Bernice is an opera singer, who debuted as the Queen of the Night, in Mozart’s Magic Flute, with the Welsh National Opera Orchestra. She is also a pop singer and was a contestant in the Romanian National Selection for 5 consecutive years. She also works as a songwriter, Vocal/A Level & GCSE Teacher and music/video producer. See below for some links to films of Bernice.

(Bernice singing Vivaldi)

(A very different video from 2012)

IP: Bernice, it is great to see you again! Tell me some more about your musical background before you came to City? You were a renowned pop singer in Romania, then went to study at the Purcell School in London, yes?

Bernice Chitiul: My parents have been a source of musical inspiration since I was a child. They were a successful band until I arrived and ruined it all 😃 Of course the attention has shifted upon me ever since and my first original song was recorded by the time I was 4 years old entitled ”A Little Star”. I had a competition every week in Bucharest and for the rest of the days I would practice hard to get good results. I hardly had free time to spend with friends or for summer holidays. Even the Summer holiday was indeed spent at the sea side but for the Summer Contest that was happening there. This however implied that I would not be allowed to sunbathe, swim or enjoy the sea side because it would affect my singing performance as the salty air would affect my vocal folds 😃 Splendid. Most often competitions were on TV and I started making connections and so I was then invited to different Shows. Eventually I had to choose between X Factor and The Voice by the time I was called by the producers. This then led to the Eurovision Participations and slowly introduced my songwriting. On one of the shows I sang ”It is a man’s world” – James Brown & Pavarotti version which implied some classical singing too. I tried to experiment with classical singing back then, I fancied the idea of being an opera singer. One member of the jury said that If SHE could not combine both Pop and Opera singing techniques, she doubts that I will be able to. That was – funnily enough – the reason why I came to London and began my classical career 🙂 To try and see if it indeed is true. I went to Purcell School – in 2013 I had my first classical performance at the Wigmore Hall, which gave me an incredible boost in classical singing, and then chose to study at City University of London to get my 3 years intake of musical ”food” 🙂 Of course after a Master degree in Opera at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama let’s say that I master both pop and classical technique and yes, it is possible. It is thus best to believe in ourselves and work towards making our dream come true whatever that may be!

IP: How did you find the adjustment between the two very different types of singing, not least in terms of the physical requirements on the voice?

BC: I was so passionate about this aspect that I chose to reinforce the idea that a complete artist should be able to perform any type of music genre. I have outlined a journey from Pop to Jazz, Musical Theatre to Classical Singing in my major presentation at City University of London during my final year of study. I have explained the difference between the singing techniques and demonstrated it within a performance each. After doing my 5 years research, I then could shift from one technique to another easily. It feels like maths or music theory – once we use the perfect equation we will get the right result. Before I struggled having my larynx tired after singing only 20 minutes now I can sing as long as I wish and my voice will not get tired. Of course one needs to understand the difference between the tension on the vocal folds in both Pop and Opera.

IP: What made you choose City for your undergraduate studies?

BC: I chose City University because of the variety of modules it provides. The advanced Music Theory along with the Studio Recording/Music Production and Performance modules seemed to be just perfect for me. Also the Classical Style, 19th Century Opera Music and Composition module shaped my mindset completely to a higher level – just perfect for my next destination: Masters Degree.

IP: How did the ‘academic’ modules you studied (including studio-based ones) relate to what you were doing as a singer?

BC:The Music Theory module helped me understand the harmonic world and express myself better when talking about why the arias I sing the most are so touching. Also it enabled me to communicate with conductors and musicians in their musical language more efficiently. It enhanced my sight reading and not last, given that I am a songwriter too, I was eager to find smarter ways to compose music and approach interesting chord progressions.

The Composition and Studio Music Production added more boost to my songwriting and confidence.

The Classical Style module introduced me to relevant historic composers who made it in the music industry in a very clever way. One of the composers which had an impact on my songwriting and singing career was Haydn. He had to adapt to the English short and harmonically simple music, compose for the audience, sacrifice his vast harmonic knowledge to compose simple music, get the English audience’s attention/praise and progressively along the years make his compositions elaborate and longer. He educated his audience, and he succeeded. We all need to adapt and learn to smoothly elaborate any musical opportunity.

The 19th Century Opera Music module was a very concentrated package of information of about 60 renowned operas including music theory details, historic background, vocal analysis down to even the collaborative process between the composers and singers. This module was such a great knowledge boost to the Operatic world that was waiting for me just around the corner 🙂

IP: How about your ensemble work relating to African, Latin-American and other traditions?

BC: First of all I am very thankful for the fact that I was given the opportunity to coordinate my own ensemble module in the first year, called Berliozya. It gave me an opportunity to work with musicians, understand how to deal with individual musicians, organize/report rehearsal times and concerts. I also thank the members of the ensemble for choosing to be part of my module and taste how it would be like to work with other musicians within an ‘Opera House’ setting.

I totally loved being part of the Latin-American ensemble as I made progress in improvisation and complex rhythm writing. I also was very proud to find that later after I graduated I found myself knowing the most important songs that all the Latin American ensembles sing. I could very easily join them. It also helps me as a teacher – as I believe understanding rhythm is a key role in a successful musician and have a vast knowledge of Latin Music harmony too. Gamelan was a great ensemble to be in as well as it opened my musical horizons.

IP: What would you recommend to others thinking of studying music as part of higher education?

BC: I would recommend them to take into consideration that it may take a lot of effort, practice, sacrifice and patience. Sometimes we would have to adapt to new circumstances and if we do not have opportunities – to learn how to create them. For sure once one will finally make it, one will have a tremendous sense of achievement. City University of London would be the best place to study at as it is focused on individual careers with a lot of options to choose from. The teachers are interested in everyone’s achievement and very supportive.

IP: Bernice, thank you so much for this interview. Do you have any further links you would like to share with us?

BC: hank you for this conversation and thank you for keeping an eye on Alumni Students. Here is a performance I had at Eurovision 2018 in one of the most touristic salt mines in Romania. It was a great but also scary experience as this was a couple of miles underground. While I sang the high operatic parts my heart was in my mouth 😹

 

Interview with Honey Rouhani

Image may contain: Honey Rouhani Barbaro

This interview took place online on 13 August 2020 between City’s Head of the Department of Music, Dr Ian Pace, and BMus graduate Honey Rouhani.

Ian Pace: I am very pleased to introduce you all to distinguished British-Iranian soprano Honey Rouhani Barbaro. Honey graduated from the BMus course at City in 2011, and since has won various prizes and pursued an important career as an opera singer, singing such roles as Despina in Cosi fan tutti, Mimi in La bohème and Tosca in the opera of that name. Her website is below.

http://www.honeyrouhani.co.uk/about/4578003998
Honey, welcome! It’s great to see you again. Could you tell me something about your time at

City, and what this has meant in terms of your subsequent career?

Honey Rouhani: Hi Ian, so wonderful to be speaking with you here. And as always a pleasure to be an alumni of City University. I was on the BMus performance degree at City and throughout the 3 years I spent there, I learnt more about music than I ever did before and after my time. As an Opera Singer I soon realised that just having the knowledge of singing and performance is not enough to have a successful career. I learnt so much about the history of music, not only Western Classical music but different ethnic groups and cultural backgrounds. In particular I loved the Ethnomusicology and Music reception.

IP: How did the study of those different musical traditions affect how you thought about music as a whole?

HR:  Coming from a different culture myself, it was so wonderful to learn so much about other cultures and their importance in what we call World Music today. The importance of connecting our world with the power of Music was the most important part of my learning.

IP: Tell me about the study of music reception for you?

HR: Music reception focused on the various events that occurred after a particular piece was premiered or performed for the first time. I was so fascinated to learn that all these events and issues like people leaving the concert hall, the social conventions etc were not just particular to one genre but could be seen in a spectrum of all musical genres. I in particular remember Bizet’s Carmen and Michael Jackson’s Thriller.

IP: Two very different examples! But both with their own sets of conventions for both musicians and listeners, in terms of listening and wider behaviour?

HR: For example, in terms of Bizet’s Carmen, the convention of going to the theatre to see something was a family event. People would bring picnics and enjoy family time whilst seeing something on stage. However this was the first time at the Opéra Comique in Paris that there was a murder scene, and people left the theatre. Many believe that this was one of the reasons that Bizet died 3 months later, as he was terribly heart broken after his premiere.

IP: Whereas if they had been at the main Opéra (which now combines the Opéra-Garnier and Opéra-Bastille) in Paris, murders on stage would have been commonplace. If only Bizet had had an inkling that his opera would go on to be one of the most successful of all time.

HR: Absolutely. now every time I perform Carmen I have that in mind.

IP: Tell me some more about your experiences of performance at City?

HR: I had a great time being a part of both the Chamber choir and the a cappella group led by the wonderful Alexander Lingas called Civitas. Both taught me so much about musicianship, tone, and controlling vibrato.

IP: The music you would have sung with Civitas would have been of a wholly different nature to what you do now as an opera singer?

HR: Totally. We mainly worked on Gregorian chant and polyphony from the Greek orthodox church.

IP: A repertoire which is likely to be quite unfamiliar to many at undergraduate level, I would think? But what attracted you in that music?

HR: I learnt so much from this group, about sight-singing, being able to sing in an ensemble without necessarily being on the melody line and learning to hold your tune whilst 15 other singers are singing different lines around you. I loved the music because it was sacred.

IP: Fantastic. What do you think are amongst the most important skills worth developing during university-level musical study?

HR: The history of Western Classical Music just changed my life. I still have all my notes as well as the big book with all the post its that I can refer to anytime I want. In my career there has been many times that I’ve wanted to understand the reasons behind a composers thinking,  to be able to interpret it in the right way. And I’ve gone back to my book and my notes and almost every time solved the issue.

IP: You could certainly have studied at either a university or a conservatoire. What made you choose a university department?

HR: I really recommend broadening ones horizons to different genres. When I first came to see City on an open day, I saw myself living the next 3 years of my life at City. I had heard so much about City university’s music department and had a couple of friends who had already studied there. I also wanted to have an academic knowledge as well as performance knowledge and I truly got the best of both worlds

IP: What would be your advice to any at age 18 nowadays who is thinking about pursuing musical study further?

HR: I think the best advice to the young students would be to really understand their love for music and why they are pursuing it as opposed to pursuing it as a hobby or simply as a means to gain a bachelor’s degree. The music business is not a joke, it’s full of hard work and frustrating moments, so you really need to love it

IP: Could you give us some links to hear you sing (it would be great to talk about some concerts, but understandably most performances are on hold for the majority of musicians during lockdown)?

HR: Sure, you can find some recordings on my website www.honeyrouhani.co.uk, as well as IGTV on Scenarialtd page. My performance diary for 2020 has a big red cross on it at the moment. However I’m lucky enough to be teaching and hopefully inspiring the next generations.

IP: Honey, thank you so much. We look forward to welcoming you back to City soon!

HR: It was absolutely my pleasure. Thank you so much for having me and good luck to all starting this year.

Five minutes with: Luci Briginshaw

Luci BriginshawLuci Briginshaw (soprano) and Ian Pace (piano) will be performing tonight in The Performance Space, 7pm, City University London. We spent five minutes having a quick chat with Luci ahead of rehearsals:

Firstly, please tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do?

I graduated from King’s College London, where I did an academic music degree (so not much to do with singing), ten years ago. Since then I’ve been working in an office, and on the side repeatedly trying to get into music college to study singing further. This never really happened, so I’m striking out on my own! I’m very soon going to leave my office job, and be a full-time singer, and this is thanks to my position as an official operatic busker at Covent Garden Market, which, believe or not, does now bring in enough money to live on. I do also occasionally get paid to be in opera productions!

How did you get into music and what made you pursue a career as a musician?

I’ve always wanted to be a musician for as long as I can remember. I badgered my mum to teach me the piano as soon as I was old enough to stand up and bang on the keys. She very kindly financed private piano lessons for me from the age of 5 to 18, and somewhere along that line it became clear to me that singing, and not the piano, was my true love, (although being a pianist is an invaluable aid now I am a singer).

What is it in particular that draws you to opera?

Great music sounds best when sung by a really beautiful voice, in my opinion. Opera has the best tunes, and I want to be the one that sings them!

You’ve recently performed roles such as The Queen (The Magic Flute), Clorinda (La Cenerentola) and Olympia (Les contes d’Hoffmann) as well as Mrs Rogers/Nurse in the new children’s opera My Mother Told Me Not To Stare. What has been your favourite role and why?

I am also about to sing the role of Leila in the Pearl Fishers in April, which I think will be lovely, as well as The Queen of the Night yet again in November. The Queen sings two absolutely phenomenal songs which are great fun, but as a role I couldn’t really say it’s my favourite because in reality you’re very disconnected from the rest of the cast, and spend most of the opera backstage, which is a little dull. As an experience, rather than just as a ‘role’, I would say my favourite job has been the new opera last year, as it was so special to feel I was part of creating something truly new, not just trying to emulate what thousands of sopranos had done before me. And it was also just a really great show!

Yes, creating something new is certainly a different challenge. Is that something you would like to be involved in the future, creating and presenting new operatic works?

I would love to do more contemporary work, yes; it’s very exciting to me. The only downside is it’s incredibly difficult to convince the public to come and see something new; they are very apprehensive, and worried they won’t like it. It’s such a shame that so many wonderful new pieces are being ignored.

Was it a different challenge performing specifically for children?

The challenge of performing to children had largely been taken care of by the composer and librettist, who had created a wonderfully tailor-made children’s story, with accessible music; but a challenge that I, as an actor, had to face was that all of the singing I did was performed with some kind of mask on my face. This meant that all the expression I put into had to be via movement of my body, which did take some getting used to.

It can be difficult to bring together the many hundreds of versions of well-known works when it comes to performance. How do you normally go about approaching well-known works with regards to taking influence from others, yet maintaining your own interpretation and voice?

I tend to learn a piece from the music on the score, and not listen to anyone else performing it until I have already learnt it. Having said that, for extremely well-known works, there is no avoiding the fact that you’ve heard it many times before. I think you just have to colour your interpretation with feelings that accompany the “getting inside” of that particular character – this will always result in an individual performance, because no-one else can be inside your head and therefore sing it exactly as you do.

Finally, what tips do you have for others pursuing a career in music, and more specifically opera?

If it is truly what you want to do, then don’t give up. Don’t bother taking personal offence at any criticism given. And also, although this bit can be tricky, really make sure you have the right teacher. You can waste years going to the same teacher because you like them, or they make you feel comfortable, but you should know in your heart whether or not they are advancing your technique at a noticeable speed. If not, shop around. And don’t give up! Mainly, don’t give up.

 

Luci will be performing a programme of Rebecca Clarke, Vincenzo Bellini, Richard Strauss, Jules Massenet and Ambroise Thomas, in the Performance Space tonight, at 7pm.

Admission is free; further details can be found at:

http://www.city.ac.uk/events/2013/january/an-evening-of-song,-passion-and-madness