In focus REVIEW and interview

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Evidently relishing the crisp winter weather of London, the day I met Soprano Susan Parkes for interview she was looking equally cool in her tailored suede trousers and black cashmere jumper. She was in rehearsal preparing to sing a selection of arias ranging from Mozart and Puccini to the Verismo giant Giordano. I had seen her the previous evening singing with one of London’s newest chamber Orchestras made up of talented soloists; the Piccadilly Sinfonietta. I had been bowled over by her breathtaking vocal power, wringing every ounce of passion and pain from the music. Even in concert formation (rather than having the distraction of the full grandeur of operatic stage) she is a good actress imparting the text with meaning and providing a host of different characters hopping easily from aria to aria.

When I ask about how she began as a singer, she comments that she started singing because she was a happy and a naturally extrovert child who used singing as "An extension of something that was inexpressible by words alone and that only sound and music could convey".  She grew up in England's Black Country town of Walsall, whose lyrical melodic accent, Susan believes, helped to shape her voice and give her an instinctive way of singing. She started learning properly when she realised that she wanted to go to the Royal College of Music, something she set her mind to and was awarded a scholarship to go and study. Since then, there have been competition awards at the Umberto Giordano International Competition, singing as soloist on the number one chart hit Karl Jenkin's Armed Man in the classical charts (when she was just 17) and of course many main roles and concerts. I asked her what her favourite roles were and she gives an excited list from gun wielding Leonore in Beethoven's Fidelio for being the strongest female lead through to the heartbreak of Santuzza in Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana. On the concert platform she works regularly with Steinway Artist, pianist Warren Mailley-Smith and will be recording Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder later in the year. Which will give us something to look forward to in 2023.