To the Royal College of Music, for a masterclass by opera star Sir Thomas Allen. Three hours of teaching, closely matched to the highly varied requirements of five young singers, moving from intense concentration to hilarity as appropriate, and enhanced by his own singing, technique and stagecraft, beginning when he entered to thunderous applause and looked around him as if startled. Eric Morcombe could not have done it better. Sir Tom goes for subtlety, sound and phrasing based on deep understanding of the text and how its meaning is brought out and enhanced by the music, creating a new work of art. He spoke of living with texts for long periods before performing them and went into the smallest detail of pronunciation, such as whether or not to pronounce a final consonant to maintain a line, as if playing it on a cello. A Soft Day, sung here by Sharon Carty, shows the goal and the difficulty, for example, near the end, in a tiny diminuendo of four repeated words, from a very soft start.
The Royal College has an exciting programme of concerts by international artists and students, at very reasonable prices. Well worth keeping in touch.