Friday, March 13, 2015 Follow us on Twitter @Argus_The Guide


5 Culture ANDYHOWELLS catches up with soprano LauraWright ahead of her newtour Singer set to entertain


FOLLOWING her sensational performance at the Opening Cer- emony of Prince Harry’s Invictus Games last year sporting soprano Laura Wright begins her first head- line tour in Cardiff on March 20. The 24-year-old mezzo sopra-


no who shot to fame with clas- sical choral group, All Angels, has sold over a million albums, and has become one of Britain’s best-selling classical artists. As the first mezzo-soprano to


perform at the Olympic Stadium, Laura has toured with tenors Alfie Boe and Russell Watson and opened the iTunes Festival for Andrea Bocelli. A firm fixture at sporting events,


Laura sings regularly at the Inter- national rugby matches for men and women, the Six Nations at Twickenham and is the England Rugby team’s first-ever official anthem singer. Classically trained at the Royal


College Of Music, for which she received a First Degree, for her first headline tour, Laura will per- form some uplifting and classical favourites from her past albums, as well as songs from her re- cently released album Sound of Strength which not only shows off Laura’s classical singing prowess but also fuses together more popular, mainstream work. Among the songs Laura will


ON TRACK: Laura begins her headline tour in Cardiff next week


sing in Cardiff on March 20 will be World in Union, Swing Low, Jerusalem, Nessun Dor- ma and Invincible, which stole the show at the Opening Cer-


In The Spotlight


LAST Sunday was Interna- tional Women’s day. Radio 3 dedicated much of its air time to female composers. Sadly the obvious conclusion was that when it comes to female mu- sicians, especially composers, the world is not exactly over- flowing with them. Indeed, until less than 100


years ago women were active- ly discouraged as musicians. There were several examples of outstanding female musi- cians who did not fulfil their potential, such as Clara Schu- mann who effectively gave up her career as a wonderful pianist and composer to see to her domestic duties. The case of Fanny Mendelssohn is even more extreme as she was not even allowed to performin public and instead took to host- ing memorable soirees at her home.


Probably the best known British female composer was the very underrated Dame Ethel Smyth. She was equally well known as a suffragette and once famously conducted a group of musicians in one of her works through the bars of a prison cell. Wales also has its own important female com- poser in Grace Williams. It is therefore a happy coin- cidence that this week I vis- ited one of Gwent’s all-female choirs – Coro Cantabile. Female choirs are relatively


thin on the ground compared to their male counterparts (I calculate there are almost 20 male choirs in Gwent alone) – surely the male bias that existed 100 years ago doesn’t still prevail? They can, in my experience, sometimes have a bad press. I certainly think there are some male choirs


who, as long as their perfor- mance ends with a few rous- ing Amens, can get away with musical murder in the rest of the concert. The same criteria are not used for the ladies. I must confess to not having heard this group (previously The Gwent Elizebethan Sing- ers) before. It is clearly my loss. They were in many ways the opposite of the stereotype that is too often expected. These are experienced singers who sing with a pure,’straight’ sound with little evidence of the excessive vibrato that can be heard in some choirs. Con- ductor Andrew Protherough Jones (known to many as Di- rector of music at West Mon Comprehensaive School and a fine trombonist) has been in situ here for 17 years and this clearly accounts for the blend and control that he has honed


Interview


emony of Prince Harry’s Invictus Games. Andy Howells recently spoke to Laura about the concert.


What’s life been like since the release of The Sound of Strength? Since the album came out and


up until Christmas it was mad. I love that kind of lifestyle where you’re going to different places everyday and different perfor- mances. It’s really exciting.


How was the album received? Really well, there’s been a re-


ally positive reaction. There’s al- ways going to be the sense that it’s a different kind of vibe, a dif- ferent idea. People I’ve spoken to have really embraced it. It’s reached a younger generation as well, which for me is exciting. It’s exactly how I wanted it to be


but there’s still more to be had there. I’m very proud of it.


What can you tell us about your live shows? I’ll be performing with a gui-


tarist, violinist and a cellist and backing tracks and singing mu- sic from all three of my albums. For me this tour is a family tour,


I want young and old, children, parents and grandparents and everyone to come along and en- joy the music that I’ll perform. I’ve chose music that are not only peoples favourites but mu-


By


GERAINT DAVIES


Bringing women back into the music industry


here – a lot of hard work has gone into creating this. The members are drawn


from a wide area of South Wales and meet in Cwmbran every week. The choir’s ori- gins, however, are in Ponty- pool and in the early days the group was directed by a well known figure in local choral music in these parts – Jean Adams. Their repertoire is also im- pressive. There is a mixture of accessible modern clas- sical pieces by composers such as Eric Whitacre which makes clear demands on them alongside some ‘lighter’ songs – while I was there their abil- ity to learn quickly was put to the test as they needed to learn new material for their next concert – a joint affair with Tenby male choir in a few weeks’ time.


sic that has a story and you can talk about on stage.


How much have you been involved in the creation of your own music and what inspires you? I actually arranged and wrote


quite a lot on the new album as well as Invincible which I per- formed at the Invictus games. It’s really been developed and


its something that I’m so excited about, it allows me to open a lot of doors and to have a lot more creative freedom. Normally it seems to be the


idea of conquering, defeating or overcoming something. It really is that idea that’s mo-


tivational and it comes from my other passion which is sport, fit- ness and exercise, bringing that together in the sense that I need that motivation in my sporting life as well.


How are you feeling about tak- ing your music out on tour? I am a little apprehensive but I


see that as a positive thing. I am eager to meet people and to talk to people and have that face to face relationship about my music which I’m passionate about. It will be the new stuff that I’m


most nervous and excited about. There’s one track, O Euchari


In Leta Via, the very first track on the new album which I’ll sing at the beginning of the concert. It’s so magical, it’s just my


voice alone and I think that cre- ates a nice atmosphere.


Watch inals for BBC Young dance contest


Was it difficult to select a right balance of music for the con- certs? There’s been a lot of to and fro


via email as to how we’ll put the set list together but it’s been very carefully chosen.


Beyond the concert tour, do you have plans for new record- ings? We are talking about that at


the moment actually but for me, definitely. I’m writing new music already and obviously with the rugby coming up as well there’s lots of things in the pipeline.


Catch Laura Wright at the Royal Welsh College Of Music and Dra- ma on March 20. Visit: ticketmaster.co.uk for details.


THE Category Finals of BBC Young Dancer 2015 come to The Riverfront next week, with the UK’s best young dancers performing in this new award. Dancers aged 16-20 from


all over the UK were invited to enter in four categories: Ballet, Contemporary, Hip Hop and South Asian Dance. There are still tickets avail-


able to come and watch the category finals which will take place as follows Thursday 19th March: Con- temporary Dance Friday 20th March: Hip Hop


Saturday 21st March: South Asian Dance Sunday 22nd March: Ballet All performances begin at 7.30pm The Riverfront, Kingsway, Newport NP20 1HG Highlights of these per-


formances will be shown on BBC Four in April as part the BBC’s ‘Year of Song and Dance’. There will be televi- sion cameras in the theatre. Visit The Riverfront’s web-


site- https://nccsec.newport. gov.uk/tickets/


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