A 2022 Update for You!

After an incredibly busy and fulfilling year at the Royal College of Music, I think it’s time (or even past time!) for an update.I’m writing this in my new flat in North West London, before I head off to audition #3 of the week! 

But first, let me take you back to September 2021! 

After a trip back to New Zealand that was sadly hampered by COVID, I headed back to London and straight into work. Over the past year I’ve been the tenor choral scholar at St John’s Church Hyde Park. With just five of us in the choir, my first few weeks were a challenge after not singing in choirs for many years. It was wonderful, with full orchestras and ensembles at some carol services, as well as plenty of great chances to sing some fun solo music as well. My colleagues have been an absolute joy to work with, and the scholarship allowed me once again to live within walking distance of College. The St John’s choir has now been boosted to eight members, and while I am no longer an official scholar, I still get to be part of the choir. 

A post service stroll

with fellow scholars Ed Jowle and Clover Kayne

When College started up again in September, we went straight into rehearsals for The Magic Flute. I had the honour of playing Monostatos, the villain who in this production wasn’t really a villain. It was so wonderful to get back into a rehearsal room and just play, particularly as this production really tore up the rule book. I was able to add a whole lot more substance to Monostatos, making him human, rather than some sort of nebulous evil sidekick. The production is available to watch on the Royal College YouTube page.

The production also got a couple of nice reviews! In one, I was a ‘surprisingly likeable Monostatos’, and another said, “Harry Grigg’s rascally Monastatos was similarly much more of a multi-dimensional character: tribute to both production and performance.” How lovely!

After Magic Flute came the College’s Opera Scenes, in which we performed a double serving of Britten. I got to revisit dear Albert from Albert Herring and had a blast as one of the mechanicals, Flute, in a hilarious scene from A Midsummer Night's Dream. I was also lucky enough to take part in two masterclasses, one with renowned Baritone Sir Thomas Allen and the other with tenor Nicky Spence. I presented some Handel, Ginastera and Schubert and had such fun working with both of these absolute titans. 

A lovely treat before Christmas was winning the Maureen Lehane Vocal Competition! It was the most bizarre experience. A week before the competition, my accompanist had to self isolate and my dear friend and collaborative pianist Lucy Colquhoun jumped in to save the day. The finals were pre-recorded, so the finalists spent a day at Jackdaws headquarters (they run the competition) in Somerset. Due to COVID, I hadn’t had the chance to meet many non-College singers, so it was a real treat to hang out with my phenomenal peers.

The Magic Flute

With my Pamina Hyoyoung Kim

We recorded our 20 minute programmes in a small studio with three judges present, and that was it! We had to wait until it was aired on Facebook and YouTube two weeks later to find out the results. Waiting was absolute torture, and it was an incredible out of body experience watching myself compete, and then WIN!

2022 started with a snotty and coughy bang. At the beginning of February I was finally struck down with the dreaded COVID. My symptoms weren’t bad, but it was such a nuisance to be stuck inside for ten days. However it took much longer than I thought it would to get my voice back, which was frustrating! And two days after getting out, I was in the semi finals for the Royal Overseas League Singing Competition. While it was not my best singing, I’m still proud of myself for being selected in the first place. 

Once I returned to College, my first performance was for the ‘Song Plus’ Series. I sang in a delightful concert called ‘Love loves to love love!’ ' and had a chance to pull out some old favourites, do a bit of silly comedy and learn some new and interesting pieces. 

In the second half of your second year at College you get to choose a stream, Song or Opera. After performing two fantastic opera scenes and a sizable operatic role in September, I chose the song option. It was exciting to explore Spanish, Swedish and Russian repertoire as well as languages I’m more familiar with (German, French, English). Only three other students took this option, so we all got to sing in every class every week. We churned through so much amazing repertoire and I left College with a desire to explore even more song! 

Castor et Pollux

Telling off Jack Lawrence-Jones and Hillary Cronin as La Grand Prêtre

One of my most exciting projects of the past year was the chance to play some small roles in the UK Premiere of Rameau’s Castor et Polluxas part of the Rameau Project up in Oxford. I was completely new to Rameau and getting a chance to play in this space was so eye-opening. Rameau’s music is so incredibly complex and an absolute joy (and challenge!) to sing, and I hope more of it comes my way.

Other concert work also came my way through the wonderful Josephine Baker Trust, a group designed to help fund community choirs to hire high quality soloists. This means not only do the choirs get good singers, but the soloists get a solid fee and more chances to perform. 

I also continued the early music scene by dipping my toe in the Bach pond for the first time! I did my first B Minor Mass with the Waverly singers out in Aldershot and performed his Lutheran Mass in G Minor along with Handel’s Dixit Dominus with the Nonsuch singers in London.

To top off my time at College, I had my final recital in June. I was so proud of what I presented; a mixture of NZ Composers (Dame Gillian Karawe Whitehead and Douglas Lilburn) and my favourites, Schubert and Britten. It felt like the perfect way to finish my time at College, although it’s bizarre that the reason I came to London in the first place has now been completed. 

It hasn’t always been easy. Even this year, for all its good, has been incredibly tough. I have felt isolated, alone, depressed and anxious through a lot of it. I say this not to garner sympathy, but to be honest about my time. I think that speaking about it makes it less of an evil and nebulous thing, because like it or not, many of us have gone through something similar. My goal for the year ahead is getting better at reaching out when I’m not feeling my best, and I have to say a massive thank you to all the truly marvellous people who listened, hugged, and thoroughly chastised me for not reaching out sooner. 

But now to the future! After spending an amazing six weeks with Mum and Dad travelling around the UK, I have now moved away from Central London and into a lovely little flat with two very good friends in Willesden Green. It’s a wonderful space and truly feels like our wee home. I am now on a Graduate visa, meaning there are no restrictions to my ability to work! I have been auditioning like crazy for various fun things next summer. As I said above, I am about to rush out the door for my third audition this week!

The Scottish Highlands

An intrepid whānau catches their breath at the top of Stac Pollaidh

Next week is my first performance at the iconic St Martin-in-the-Fields, my first repeat oratorio performance of the Mozart Requiem. I cannot WAIT to sing in that gorgeous space. Following that, I am performing in a modern chamber opera No Way Out  as part of the Barnes Opera Studio Festival. 

Then in December I’m performing a recital in the London Song Festival, focused on the relationship between W. H. Auden and Britten with some truly luscious music. Looking into 2023, there are a few plans a-brewing, with a French song recital in the works, as well as other musical treats. 

Love, Actually

a chilly night carolling around the neighbourhood with the St Johns Crew

I promise to keep you all up to date much more regularly than the past 12 months! I’ve given my website a much needed tidy and it now has schedule and media pages where you can find out about my goings on and hear some snippets from my recent performances.

This year would not have been possible without the support of St John’s Church, the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation, Circle100, The Dame Malvina Major Foundation and the Kiwi Music Scholarship I received. Thank you all for the encouragement you have shown me over my years studying. Thank you also to anyone who even shows a mild interest in my attempt to make a career out of this. Any and all well wishes truly mean so much to me. I look forward to hearing from you soon and hope you all have a wonderful end to one of the most bizarre years in the books, 2022.

Christmas 2021

An honorary Hooper for the day with Mary and Catherine

All my love, gratitude and thanks, 

Graduation

First Class, baby!

Harry x

Kia Ora from London!

Surprise, I’m in London! I am reaching the end of my orientation week at the Royal College of Music and I cannot wait to begin properly on Monday. After a couple of weeks of settling in I am ready to go. Since it has been such a long time since my last update I thought I would give a brief update of all the awesome things that have happened over the last few months.

May - Back to Auckland. As wonderful as it was to spend two months at home, it was equally incredible to return to life as normal for a while. I was in the studio at NZO three days a week, different coachings, acting lessons, and preparing for our scenes concert in early August. 

June and July - Much the same, two months of blissful consistency! In July I got to perform my first Mozart Requiem with Bach Musica. It was such a gorgeous work that I cannot wait to perform again.

Scenes

After our final show!

August - The scenes concert! The three of us loved working with our Director, Jon Hunter. We had a week where we got to work through all the drama and put it into the music. The repertoire was such a great mix and gave us each the chance to shine. We performed the concert twice, to full audiences. I cannot understate how incredible it was to perform for people again, and how wonderful it was to perform with stage animals like Anna and Felicity. It has been such a joy to spend these last few months working on our craft together and I already miss them so much!  

A little snippet of Sweat with Pride with my Flatmate Beth!

Also in August, the Studio Artists took part in the NZ Aids foundations Sweat with Pride initiative to raise funds for the NZ Aids foundation and Rainbow youth. It was so much fun to work out for 21 minutes a day and raise money for our queer whānau. In the second lockdown we even did some Zumba over Zoom! A hilarious session that I am glad no one saw! 

The Last Supper

Final Breakfast with my flatmates at our favourite local cafe!

September - Farewell New Zealand! The last few weeks of August were devoted to tidying up my life in Auckland. Selling my beautiful car of six years and all the unnecessary bits and bobs I have picked up along the way and trying to fit my life into two suitcases weighing 30kgs. No easy task, let me tell you! But now I am here at the beautiful Victoria League waiting to begin my studies. For this semester most of our study is online, which is a little disappointing but I am also glad that the College is taking a safe approach. 

Ready to Fly!

Masks all the way for 48 hours of flights and layovers!

I hope everyone reading this is staying safe, washing their hands and wearing a mask! 

Love to all,

Harry xx

ALSO! A quick note, over the last few days I have added a gallery tab to my website, so have a scan through for some photos from some recent productions and competitions.

A COVID19 Update

Hi All,

To be honest, there is not a lot to say about the COVID19 Lockdown that hasn’t been said by everyone else. Most of my upcoming engagements have been cancelled, and I am on tenterhooks waiting to find out if I am able to attend the Royal College of Music in September. So, like most people, I have run home to my parents to hang out with them during the Lockown, hoping to get back to Auckland in the coming weeks.

A positive about this time has been how incredible the team at New Zealand Opera have been for us Studio Artists. We have been meeting digitally weekly, alongside regular voice and language lessons and other exciting goodies. I was able to record a video for their Facebook page with my dear friend David Kelly, as well as participate in a Q and A which was featured on their website, I will include both below!

Other than that, I hope all are well and looking after each other, WE GOT THIS TEAM!

Lots of Love,

Harry

Q and A - https://nzopera.com/song-harry-grigg/

Go Lovely Rose, Quilter - Performed during the COVID19 Lockdown in New Zealand. Accompanied by David Kelly. Made for New Zealand Opera

NZ OPERA STUDIO ARTIST ANNOUNCEMENT

Hi All,

I am unbelievable excited to have been selected as one of three New Zealand Opera Studio Artists for 2020. This development programme is a fantastic opportunity, where we will be exposed to international and local experts in the field of opera who will help us develop through coachings and performance opportunities.

You can find out more information on the programme here - https://nzopera.com/studio-artists/

While you are there, check out the incredible season that the company has planned for 2020!

I will do a larger Yarra Valley update soon, but I am just so excited to share this news with you all!

Until the next update!

Harry

The Enchanted Pig

I am beyond excited to announce that I will be heading over to Melbourne to perform with Gertrude Opera in the Yarra Valley Opera Festival in the Australian premiere of Jonathan Dove’s opera The Enchanted Pig. This delightful opera is based on various fairy tales and involves talking books, magic pigs, old crones, the sun, the moon and everything else in between. I cannot wait to return to Australia so soon, and am looking forward to exploring Melbourne while I am there.

For more information on Gertrude Opera - https://www.gertrudeopera.com.au/

For more information on the Yarra Valley Opera Festival - https://www.yarravalleyoperafestival.com.au/

You got a Degree... Now What?!

Welcome back to this intermittent blog! So much has happened since I last posted here in January, so let’s crack into it shall we? 

All the way back in February there was an Italian reunion in Gisborne. Jack Richards invited Joanna Foote and myself to perform a recital at Tiromoana, his beautiful home. It was a real treat to collaborate with Joanna again and to work with Xing Wang, our accompanist, for the first time. We presented a recital of our favourite music, which included some rep that we had performed together at Villa Petrolo, and it was incredibly successful. It was a real treat to spend time in sunny Gisborne. I’ll pop up a picture from our evening walk along the beach, absolute bliss! 

Gisborne at Sunset

Joanna, Xing and Myself, Tiromoana

From there it was back to Auckland to work at the Uni Libraries over summer until the start of the semester. It was my final semester at Auckland Uni, which was a slightly terrifying thought as I had only begun in June! The semester started off with a visit from ‘Distinguished Visitor’, Simon O’Neill. He was at Uni for two weeks and I was fortunate enough to be selected to have some lessons with him, participate in both a public masterclass and be featured in his concert with the Auckland Chamber Choir. It was an incredibly insightful couple of weeks, with many pearls of wisdom gathered from Simon, both working with him and watching him work with others. 

Masterclass with Simon O’Neill at the University of Auckland

The past few months have been filled with many fun gigs including:

• A concert series for the Dame Malvina Major Foundation at various Summerset Retirement homes around the Auckland region 

• A performance on Waiheke at the Poderi Crisci winery

• My first performance with Bach Musica as the tenor soloist in The Birds

• Singing with the Auckland Symphony Orchestra in their Last Night at the Proms concerts. 

Just last week I was back in Gisborne again, this time as part of the Tairawhiti Museum’s winter concert series. Due to Don Giovanni rehearsals (I was a member of the chorus for the APO/NZO concert version of DG), I arrived late Saturday night, sang the recital on Sunday afternoon and was back in Auckland by tea time! I presented a real smorgasboard of a programme, with some Italian art song, German Lied, British folk song, Sings Harry and some fun music theatre pieces to wrap it all up.

Prior to this I had two other very important recitals to complete my degree. As a special research topic, I chose to explore some of Schubert’s Schwanengesang and present them with my coach and supervisor for the project, Rachel Fuller. It was musically and artistically an incredibly satisfying process and getting an A+ made it all the better! For my final Honours recital I presented an interesting and diverse programme of music that I had discovered and fallen in love with over the semester, with Monteverdi, Beethoven, Lilburn, Britten and a cheeky bit of Sondheim thrown in at the end (who doesn’t love Giants in the Sky!). I was particularly excited to present the Lilburn song cycle Sings Harry as it is the first New Zealand work that I have performed as a soloist. Having now performed the cycle twice, I can’t wait to continue working on it and developing who my “Harry’ is. I promise I’m not giving you homework, but if you want to read more about the cycle then here’s a great little article:

https://www.noted.co.nz/culture/music/douglas-lilburn-sings-harry-review/

It turns out I received a mark of 96 percent, so I now have another feather to add to my cap, Bachelor of Music Honours with First Class! 

My brief time at Auckland Uni was so fulfilling. I have made many new fantastic friends who I cannot wait to perform with in the future on the professional stage. It was also such a great programme. I was able to fill my time with practical studies that will be applicable to my career, such as building the basics for learning a role and developing a character and studying repertoire that I will be performing for the rest of my life.

Earlier in the year I received an incredibly exciting email from the Circle100 inviting me to apply for their scholarship. The Circle100 are a group of like minded people who support young singers and help them reach their next level of study. My application was accepted and I was on to the next round; a day of masterclasses with the committee and a panel consisting of Simon O’Neil, Iain Patterson and Sophie Joyce. Singing for the panel was a great opportunity to get some honest and constructive advice from three industry professionals. At the end of the day I was awarded a travel scholarship that will contribute to an audition/consultation tour at the end of the year to help me start planning the next stage of my career. I am incredibly honoured to receive this scholarship and can’t wait to have the opportunity to return to the UK/Europe.

Other than this fantastic trip towards the end of the year, the rest of my life will be based around various regional competitions and an audition that, all going well, will mean some exciting things for 2020 which I will let you know about as soon as I have things to tell!

Until next time… 

Harry

Opera at Upland

Hi all! I am beyond excited to be putting on a recital with my dear friends Joanna and Xing in a couple of weeks and it would be wonderful to see you there! Tickets can be purchased here: https://www.trybooking.co.nz/ZX 

seating is very limited so it is highly unlikely there will be door sales, so get in quick!  

Harry

Harryadne auf Brisbane!

LGNOS Is the most intense, fun, challenging, rewarding, demanding, delightful summer school I have ever done. For this school was putting on Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos (I’ll let you google the plot, it’s a little convoluted!). I performed the role of  Scarramucio, one of a quartet of performers that were part of Zerbinetta’s act. After arriving at about midnight the night before the start of the school, at 10.30 the next morning we started with welcomes and a full musical run of the opera. It is always exciting to meet your new family for whatever project you are working on, be it a weekend or five weeks, and this awesome crew were no exception! The run through went much better for me than I thought it would! Scaramuccio is musically very difficult as he is a middle harmony line in a quartet/quintet for all of his singing, so there can be funky passages that make no real sense until put with the other singers. We all made it through relatively unscathed!

For the duration of the school I was billeted with a three other singers at Nancy Underhill’s house. Nancy is one of those people who oozes kindness and generosity and she opened her house to four crazies for five weeks! The Fab Four, the name of our text chain, included myself, Laura Scandizzo, Amy Yarham and Daniel Macey. We became a gorgeous little family and it was so much fun spending time with these humans!

So, the school! The first week and a half consisted of music calls and individual coachings. Add next component, director! Heather Fairburn was our fearless leader and made the rehearsal process a real romp! What added to the fun, for the quartet at least, was Heather’s staging of the piece. Instead of being a circus act, Zerbinetta and her boys were a cabaret act. This meant that three of us would be in drag. Wigs, Makeup, bespoke sequin purple dresses, all of it! Our key word was ‘Dreamgirls’ and the choreo didn’t dissappoint! Hopefully the official photos will be out soon so I can post a few here because, and I hate to toot my own horn, we looked good!

Because we had such a busy schedule during the week, it was nice to be able to rest, relax and go on a few adventures in the weekend. The second weekend in included one of my favourite trips and joinery down to Wetn’Wild! We were like children, running around and throwing ourselves down rides and giggling the whole way. It was a day that was very much needed! Another real treat was Thanksgiving. Lovely Laura is from Texas, and so we hosted Thanskgiving one Sunday night! Laura was chef supreme and cooked the perfect Turkey which I have never had before, nor have I been part of a Thanksgiving party! I can confirm that both of these were fantastic!

So we’re down to a week and a half until show one, the show is looking great, the coaches are happy, Heather is happy and we add the next component, Simone Young!

I have to be honest here, I return to writing this after a break and realise that I have returned to my old ways of aggressively overusing exclamation marks. For the duration of this update I will try to refrain from using them. Please be aware that I am still excited about the whole process, I am just trying to write slightly more proper like!  (Last one I swear and yes, the incorrect grammar was part of the joke I promise)

It was a little nerve wracking to sing for Simone the first time, as it is when you sing for the conductor for the first time in any project. But we had been so well musically prepared that the whole run through was a delight. By this part of the process I’ll admit I had a little bit of Strauss fatigue, but that was stripped away working with Simone. Getting into the space was the next step and we would be performing in the Queensland Con’s Stunning Concert Hall. It is always a big change from the rehearsal space, and there are always little changes. This prop might be a metre further upstage than in the rehearsal room, or this action might need to be cheated out more, it can be a fun but tricky part of the process. The final piece of the puzzle was adding our Orchestra, Ensemble Q and It was so exciting to here them play. Don’t get me wrong, all of the coaches and repetiteurs who were playing during rehearsals were amazing, they just weren’t an orchestra. The two performances were both very successful and went incredibly well, if I do say so myself!

And then it’s over, just like that. Weeks and weeks of rehearsals go into two ninety minute shows and then you’re thinking about if you are going to need to buy extra baggage for your return flight home. What an experience the whole process was and I have made many wonderful friends and had the absolute honour of working with amazing coaches and teachers who all taught me so much. It has been a very bizarre month since the school finished. I was so greateful to have the opportunity to rest and recover, but heading back to the farm for Christmas was such a dichotomy to the busyness and intensity of my time in Brisbane. I hope the opportunity comes again to work in Australia, I really cannot wait to work with all of those wonderful people again!

As for the start of 2019, I am heading down to sing as a soloist in Nelson for the Teapot Valley Choral Festival in a few days and will be returning to Dunedin to sing at the Burns Supper, a celebration of Robbie Burns, the following weekend. Chorus work for New Zealand Opera is spread throughout the year, as well as working with Bach Musica for the first time premiering a NZ work which I cannot wait to start working on! Also I have a degree to finish too, I’m sure I’ll pop along to a class or two!

Until next time!

My Under the Tuscan Sun Moment!

So a lot has happened since my last update so I am going to cleave this into two parts. Italy and London and the end of University and where I am now, sunny Brisbane at the Lisa Gasteen National Opera School!

The end of La Boheme was such a joy and it was a real shame to leave the production behind as it headed down to Wellington for the rest of the season. I was up the morning after closing night, ready to head to Italy. I arrived in Rome after 30 hours of travelling feeling like an absolute zombie. To make matters worse, I arrived at 7.00 am and had to wait until 3.00 pm to check into my airbnb, so I stored my luggage at the station and headed out into sweltering Rome. It really is an amazing city and walking around so early in the morning meant I escaped the heat and the tourists which was marvelous. Much like Brisbane is now, traversing Rome in the middle of the day involved playing a fun game of find the air con or find the cathedral in order to escape from the heat. But I persevered and made it through, just, collapsing on the bed of my airbnb as soon as I could. The next day I headed to the Baths of Caracalla before meeting wonderful Ben Reason, my fellow singer back at the airbnb before we headed out for some more exploring. Over the next couple of days we were tourists supreme, with highlights being the Palantine Hill and Roman Forum. It is remarkable how much has been preserved and it is always so incredible to think of how people were living all those years ago. It was then time to meet up with all the others in Florence before heading to our home for the next week, Villa Petrolo in Tuscany.

The others I speak of were my fellow singers, Elisabeth Harris and Joanna Foote, and Natalie Gyles, Patricia’s assistant and all round wonderful human being. Arriving at the villa was the most surreal experience. I’ll be honest, most of the week I felt like I was destined to wake up from this crazy fever dream. The villa had about a million rooms, with a central hall where we would work with Wyn Davies and hold one of our three concerts. Looking out from the top of the villa, we were greeted with the sight of the rolling hills of Tuscany covered with vineyards, some of them belonging to Petrolo!  But enough about going on about this portal into another world, we had work to do! Mornings were devoted to the study of La Bella Lingua with our amazing teacher, Giancarla. Giancarla was bright and bubbly and by the end of the week had us conversing for most of the class in Italian. She taught to everyone’s differing levels and gave us all such confidence to really try and give it a go. One little victory for me was talking to my taxi driver, who spoke no english, for the whole ride back from one of our concerts to the villa. Both the taxi driver and I had so much fun and I really loved having the chance to try out my skills.

Afternoons for us singers involved working under the cruel and demanding tutelage of Wyn Davies. I jest of course because although he may be demanding, Wyn might be one of the most kind and delightful human beings on the face of the planet. And for those that know me and my slight tendency to call everyone a delightful and wonderful human being, I do mean it! With Wyn we coached Italian repertoire which lead to the development of a recital programme involving all four singers, with solos and duets and ensembles that were a joy to sing. The concert took place in a small town 20 minutes drive from the villa called Montevarchi. The second was on our home turf in the villa and it was great to meet everyone afterwards over dinner. There were so many Kiwis and Australians who now live in Italy who came to watch and it was so wonderful to have a chat to all of them.

I will get to the third concert, which spelled the end of our Italian trip, but first I would like to talk about two things that made this trip so memorable. The first was an experience that we had on day one. We were invited to the festa celebrating the end of the grape harvest. This was a celebratory lunch where everyone who was involved in the harvest got together to celebrate, from the workers in the field to the accountants to the local police and the mayor of the small town. Top shelf wine flowed and it was an honour to be caught up in their celebrations, to be a fly on the wall in this yearly ritual where they come together as a family to laugh and celebrate. A lively band played with everyone singing and dancing along. There were awards, though I couldn’t tell you what they were, but prizes included wooden spoons, tiaras and other such ridiculous things. It is a moment I will cherish forever.

The second thing were the people on the course. By this I mean Patricia, Natalie, Wyn and my fellow singers, but also the touristi! For those who are unfamiliar with Patricia’s tour, one of the things that sets it apart is that whilst we are working hard at the villa, tourists also stay at the villa and go on expeditions around Tuscany, seeing the sights with Patricia. Every night we would meet for drinks and nibbles before sitting down to eat vast quantities of some of the most delicious food I have ever eaten. But each and every one of the touristi were so supportive and caring and it was a real treat to spend a week in Italy with this group.

After a week it was time to say farewell to the Villa as we headed to Bevagna, a small walled town, where we would spend our final few nights together as a family. The concert here was by far my favourite. If I can attach images from IPad I will but if not pop over to my Instagram, the little image of a square camera at the top right of this page, to see some photos. Bevagna has the most gorgeous little Teatro that we performed in with a phenomenal acoustic. We also performed to a relatively full house and it’s always a joy when Italians compliment your Italian! Just a little humble brag!

From there we all parted ways and I winged my way to London for a week of exploring and catching up with old friends and new. I managed to see three different performances while in London; Handel’s Solomon at the Royal Opera House, Company at the Gielgud Theatre on the West End and La Traviata at Glyndebourne! All were fabulous, though it was particularly exciting to be able to make my way out of London to Glyndebourne with the wonderful family I was staying with. Other highlights include having dinner at the pub Ian McKellan owns, The Grapes. Unfortunately he wasn’t there but boy what a cheep and delicious feed! Also delightful was heading into the Guildhall to catch up with some Kiwi Colleagues and running into a large portion of the hoarde that are currently studying there! It’s a really special thing to be able to watch your friends doing what they love and doing it so incredibly well!

But unfortunately the looming threat of unfinished university assignments called me home. It seems surreal that all of this happened over a two week period. Writing this has made me realise how incredibly lucky I am. These are oppurtunities that in all honesty I had never imagined would happen and none of it would be possible without all of the generous support I have received, so from the bottom of my heart thank you all once again. It takes a village to raise a baby, and this baby is blown away by all of you!

This got much more long winded than I had anticipated, so when I return home from the Lisa Gasteen National Opera School, I will do another pre Christmas update to share with you my Five weeks in Brisbane!

Until then,

Harry

Elixir and Aida and Boheme, Oh my!

Hi all, I think it’s time for another update! It has been an incredibly busy year for NZ Opera, with three more opera’s after Candide. The first of these was the delightful production from Australia of The Elixir of Love. Set in a small town in the Australian outback, the set was deigned to look like it was made completely out of corrugated iron! Once again I was a soldier (A theme is emerging in my opera chorus career!) visiting with Belcore. This was a production filled with many laughs and excellent colleagues. It was also quite surreal to share the stage with both Pene Pati and Amina Edris as Nemorino and Adina. They are both that perfect combination of phenomenal performers and great human beings and were a joy to work with!  

After our run finished, there was a short break before we were back in the rehearsal room for APO’s Opera in Concert, Aida. I think the best part about being involved in this production was less our singing and more listening to Radames and Amneris. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t loving the piece that much. It was rather a challenge for a light young tenor like myself to sound like and imposing priest crying for the death of prisoners. All of that changed when we got to hear Antonello Palombi and Olesya Petrova sing out with the orchestra in the town hall. Rest assured, I fully appreciated the beauty of the music then!  

Along with all of the Chorus work, I made the decision early in the year to return to University to do the Honours year of my Bachelor of Music. I couldn’t have made a better choice. As well as continuing to develop vocally I have been given the opportunity to learn the process of learning a role and this experience is such a rewarding one, as I am developing my stagecraft and acting skills alongside it. All the students and staff here at Auckland Uni have made me feel so welcome so to them I am eternally grateful for helping me settle in and remember how to function as a university student!  

An incredibly exciting thing occurred at the end of July, I had the opportunity to meet and sing for Dame Kiri te Kanawa! It was a pleasure to finally meet her, after the foundation’s generous support over the last year, offering all of us on the program such valuable experiences and exposure to international teachers and coaches that would otherwise be impossible. Dame Kiri was so lovely and I look forward to Coaching with her later in the year. 

I also popped down to Dunedin in early September to sing in my final concert as an RSA Scholar. The RSA Choir have been such a platform for my growth and development as a performer and I am so honoured to have been a part of the fantastic scholarship programme. While in Dunedin I couldn't pass up the opportunity to put together a fun little soiree at Elizabeth Bouman's, and a fun night was had by all! I managed to have my wonderful friends Sam Madden and Beth Goulstone come along and have a sing with me, and we were accompanied by the one man orchestra that is Terence Dennis!   

The exciting but sad thing about this part of the year is that a lot of my incredibly talent friends are heading away to study overseas. I was lucky enough to perform for Sophie Sparrow and Clare Hood in their respective fundraising concerts. It’s a great chance to break out the Champagne choruses, the West Side Story duets and have a sing along with the audience to a bit of Moon River. I have told them and all other kiwis currently studying over seas that they are all my guinea pigs and I’m watching to see what the courses they are on are like and if it would be a good match for me! Go well Sophie and Clare, i’m sure we’ll see each other much sooner than we think!  

As I write this I am incredibly excited for the Sitzprobe for La Boheme tonight with the APO. The great thing about this show is that we hardly sing, so there will be lots of time to listen and watch our amazing principals. And guess what role I have been given, and no it’s not a Hawker or parent. It’s a Guard! I told you there was a theme!  There is no rest for the wicked however, as the day after we close I am getting on a plane and heading back to beautiful Italy! I will be there for Patricia Hurley’s Italian for Opera Singers tour, spending time at the stunning Villa Petrolo and working with Wyn Davies and three other Kiwi singers, presenting concerts and learning Italian with local teachers. Needless to say I am ridiculously excited for this opportunity and want to thank Patricia for my inclusion in the program. After this I will be in London for a week. It will be my first visit to England so I cannot wait to take in all the sights and sounds. My wonderful hosts for the week are also taking me out to Glyndebourne to see their touring production of La Traviata, a very special treat!   

Upon my return I will have a crazy amount of study to catch up on and four days back I will be heading down to PACANZ in Palmerston North to compete in the performer of the year competition. I am excited to see how I function on what I’m sure will be very little sleep and a lot of jet lag!  

Well that’s all for now! Though there are some exciting things in the pipeline that I cannot wait to share with you all, and I will be sure to share it as soon as I can! The next time I post an update I hope to be sipping on a cappuccino or glass of wine, time of day dependant, in Italia!  

Until then, Ciao!  

Harry  

Clare Hood's Fundraising Concert at Rannoch, Sept 2nd

Elixir of Love, Wellington

I managed to pop down and see the production in Wellington so it was fantastic to see the show for myself!

NZ Aria 2017

I managed to get a hold of some of the photos from the NZ Aria Finals! Shot by Tony Whitehead

What a day, what a day, for an update da fe!

As I write this in my new Auckland flat, it is raining aggressively outside and our power is doing funny things… Welcome to Auckland!

That is the biggest piece of news, but first, Tosca! This was a restaging of a production performed in the North Island a few years ago and it was fantastic to be able to perform it for Christchurch audiences. The chorus in Tosca is seldom on stage, but when we were it was fantastic music to sing and it was a joy to watch all the principles at work. Orla Boylan and Simon O’Neil were amazing to watch, and I was fortunate enough to be in a masterclass with Orla put on by the Opera Foundation. The masterclass was very brief, but the work that Orla and I did in those twenty minutes have helped me understand how my breathing and support work even better!

After Tosca, it was goodbye to the South Island and hello to my new home, Auckland! The move looked like this: Friday night, finish final show of Tosca and go home and shove whatever can fit into one suitcase and a suit bag. Saturday morning, Fly to Auckland for 10 am start for Candide Rehearsals. Saturday Afternoon, finish rehearsal and finally arrive back to the flat! My wonderful flatmates who were doing most of the flat hunting (Shout out to Anna Mahon and Angus Simmons!) have found us a wonderful place, with a massive deck and a little office space out the back of the property we have converted into a little music studio! It’s perfect! That first week in Auckland was taken up with Candide rehearsals and the three performances as part of the Auckland Arts Festival. I got to perform a couple of my dreams roles, a man dressed up suspiciously like a member of the KKK (Pointy hat and all), and be a dresser to our wonderful Cunegonde, Amelia Berry, as she sang Glitter and be Gay. It was a real shame to leave behind such a silly yet fun show, I hope I get to perform in it again in the future!

Easter Weekend held the Napier Vocal Competitions. My goal heading into the competition was to get into the aria final, and I did which was a weekend well spent for me! It was such a tough competition, every single singer was on their A Game singing like seasoned pros! After the competition, I flew down to Christchurch and drove my car back up to Auckland. It is such a beautiful drive, it should be at the top of everyone’s road trip list! The desert road in particular is such an interesting drive!

The day after I got back it was straight into the next thing, A Kiri Programme module. This time we got to work with the amazing Kathryn Harries. We spent most of the three sessions working on breathing and refining that process for me, which immediately brought more colour into my voice. Now all I have to do is keep it up! On Monday we had a media training session with New Zealand journalist extraordinaire Ian Fraser. This involved recording an interview with him and watching it back to critique it, which is an incredible bizarre but informative experience! Being a part of the programme is such a privilege and I just want to say a massive thank you to the foundation for supporting young singers like myself and giving us these phenomenal opportunities!

Well, that’s all for now folks! I have a few weeks off before we begin rehearsals for The Elixir of Love, with Aida following up close after. I’ll be sure to let you know how it all goes!

Until next time,

Harry

Napier Aria Final

Napier Aria Final

Napier Aria Final Backstage!

Back up everyone, a mini golf pro is here!

Tosca, Christchurch, March

2017 and into the future…

It has been a while since my last update, but nevertheless, here is a new one!

The last few months of 2017 were jam packed to say the least with one of the most exciting parts being the New Zealand Aria Competition over the weekend of the 29th of October. As I was doing both the open and U21 classes, it was a very hectic couple of days with much running between venues.This was a very successful weekend for me. I was fortunate enough to be awarded the John Bond award for the most promising singer in the open categories and was also a finalist in the Aria itself. I love singing with orchestras. It is something that I have been fortunate enough to do a few times now and relish and appreciate every experience. Being able to sing Lalo’s Vainement, ma bien aimee with the APO was one of those moments that I will treasure forever. I am not a lover of competitions I will be honest, but my absolute favourite part of them is getting to be around my colleagues. I love watching all of them in their element and performing fantastically. It was a particularly exciting day for me as the 29th of October was my birthday - the big 21! Walking into the orchestral rehearsal and having them play me Happy Birthday was the icing on the cake.

Once back from my sojourn up to Rotorua it was exam and recital time. It was a very special performance for me, as it was my last in Marama Hall as a student of the university. Three years seems like such a long time and it was a joy to present an awesome programme with my wonderful accompanist, Tom McGrath. About a month later I was walking across the stage in the Dunedin Town Hall collecting a wee piece of paper with lots of fancy words on it. I didn’t read all of them straight away, the only ones that stuck out were HARRY MATTHEW GRIGG and BACHELOR OF MUSIC. As wonderful as my time in Dunedin had been, it had also come to an end.

After a brief break, the year started off with a bang at the 2018 New Zealand Opera School in Whanganui. My third year at the school was as exciting as ever. Highlights for me included working with Della Jones and Cesar Ulloa, as well as singing at the Heritage house lunchtime recital and aboard the Waimarie, the local paddle boat. It takes the cake as the most peculiar place that I have performed. In saying that, it was so much fun! Accompanied by super star David Kelly, we serenaded the passengers of the steam boat and I walked around the boat conducting happy birthdays and singalongs. The chapel service this year was based around Handel’s Israel in Egypt and I was fortunate enough to sing a solo. It was one of my first forays into coloratura music and was exciting to sing. This is an area of music that I want to look into. The school finished with the wonderful final concert where I sang O Mädchen mein Mädchen from Lehar’s Friederike. This was one I had been given the week before and I always relish the challenge of learning a piece quickly!

Now we are already into February. “What’s next?” I hear you all cry. I will be working with NZ Opera in three of their productions, starting with Tosca this month in Christchurch followed by Candide and The Elixir of Love in Auckland. And with those productions, I will be making my move to the big smoke! (of New Zealand). I am nervous and slightly terrified but mostly super excited to be working with all of my phenomenal colleagues based there!

I will be sure to let you know how it all goes. I hope you have all had a fantastic start to the year and may that fantasticalness long continue!

Happy 2018!

Harry

The Pirates, The Pirates, oh Despair!

Well hello all regular visitors, guess who it is?! Obviously me, there is no one else it could be, this is my website of course! 

The past few months have been nothing short of Chockablock in the best ways, with rehearsals for Pirates of Penzance for Opera Otago starting in early August. I'll admit I was slightly nervous about this project as Frederick is such a big role! But as the rehearsal process has gone on I can say confidently that I have zero regrets in taking on the role. It has been great to help develop my acting both vocally and in the dialogue, which is something I haven't had to do since High School! We have such a phenomenal director and music director, Nadya Shaw Bennett and Sam van Betuw, whose visions for the show are incredible, and the chorus is simply phenomenal! I am a combination of terrified and overwhelmingly excited for opening night on the 12th of October, and I hope to see many of you there! 

The other exciting thing that happened over the weekend was the Dunedin Vocal Comps. it was a very successful weekend, and I place first in the Folk Song, Robert Burns song and Musical Theatre Post 1975. I also placed second in the Aria competition which was surreal to day the least! I sang Io gia t'amai from Handel's Rodelinda and the classic, Vainement, me bien aimee by Lalo. The competition as a whole was the most relaxed competition environment I have been in. The level of collegiality and encouragement was something that is so unique to Dunedin comps that I am sure I will be coming back to perform in them for as long as I can! 

The rest of my year involves primarily Pirates from the 12th-19th and my Recital on the 7th of November and the NZ Aria Competition in Rotorua from the 25th - 29th of October. All going well I will be able to sing with an Orchestra on my birthday which would be pretty special!

Until next time,

Harry! 

Italy is Over! For now!

So. I said I would update regularly. I got halfway through I guess. Do I get points for that? Regardless, where was I!?

The next three important things that happened were some of the most fun I had during my time away. The three scenes concerts. Over the three concerts we each performed the scenes we had been assigned in three wonderful venues. The first was a 13th century castle in Piobbico, where we performed in the old throne room. Here I got to perform the scene from L’Egisto (Cavalli) and it was like singing in a bathroom, it was such a wonderful and easy acoustic to sing in. The second concert was in Urbino, a university town about half an hour outside of Urbania where we performed in one of the most beautiful small opera house. It was one of many ‘oh wow I am in Italy moments’ that kept popping up throughout my stay! Here I sang Alfredo in the Brindisi, Gernando in Haydn’s L’isola disibitata and Arturo in the sextet from Lucia di Lammermoor. Concert three was my favourite, occurring on the next Wednesday in Urbania itself in the Teatro Bramante. It was my favourite because we got to sing in the town we had being annoying with our obnoxious singing for a month, but also because I got to sing my favourite scene, Sento un certo non so che from Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea. The duet is so charming and fun to both sing and act, performing it with the crazy talented Emily Sierra helped make it even more enjoyable! 

This marked the final performance for the four weekers who left the following Saturday as we were heading to Verona and Venice. It was a bittersweet moment saying goodbye to all of the incredible people that we had become such close friends with in such a short time. An incredibly fun dinner marked their farewell and we got to see them all ‘graduate’ from Centro Studi Italiani! 

Our trip to Verona and Venice was next! We only got to spend a few hours exploring Verona before heading to the Arena di Verona to see Rigoletto. Much like seeing Don Giovanni in Milan, there is something surreal about watching Italian opera in Italy with a full house (or arena, whichever is more apt!). All of the singers were fantastic and the breaks in between all of the acts were a quiet relief, as marble doesn’t make the most comfortable seating, especially for three hours! 

The next day we headed to Venice. As with Verona and Firenze there wasn’t enough time to see the whole city, but it was such an incredible taster and now I know what to expect when I return! We got to see the inside of the St Marks Basilica and the Doge’s Palace. The Palace was the perfect example of the extravagance and wealth that was present in Italy at the time of its construction. Elaborate paintings and ornate gold frames covered every single surface, including the ceilings. 
On the return journey all were either asleep or frantically learning music for the new scenes that we had been given for the final six week concert in two weeks. I had been given ‘Caro Elisir, sei mio! Exulting pur la Barbara’ from Donizetti’s L’esilir d’amore. But before that we had the songs of our heritage concert on the upcoming Tuesday! I was lucky enough to sing three Items in this concert, the first being Sixteen going on Seventeen from The Sound of Music with my wonderful friend Shurmila, Tonight at Eight from She Loves Me and the role of Candide in Make our Garden Grow from Candide by Bernstein. This was a pretty special piece to perform, as it was one of the pieces I sang with my friends in my fundraising concert in Christchurch. 

The next two weeks consisted of very much the same, more wonderful coaches such as Nicole Cabell and Mira Zakai joined the faculty for brief stints we said farewell to Håkan Hagegård. A lot of my time in these two weeks was spent working on the L’esilir scene was so much fun! It was also a delight to work with Rachel Kobernick who was a perfect Adina to my Nemorino.

The my final weekend in Urbania found myself and a few friends swimming and relaxing by the beautiful river Cagli which was a much needed respite from the weeks hard work. The final week, like the rest of the program, seemed to go far too quickly and before we knew it it was the final concert. Everyone performed superbly and the whole evening was a success! The second farewell dinner happened the next evening and the next morning we were on the bus back to Milan. After farewelling all those who were heading to the airport, myself and a few friends headed into the city or a final dinner together. After saying goodbye to Rachel that evening and Calli the next morning I made my way to Lake Como for the day. I know this update has, like all my updates, a very limited scope as far as adjectives are concerned, so why stop here! The lake truly was stunning and the town of Como itself was also stunning and wonderful and all of the above. It was an excellent way to finish my time in Italy. Did I mention it was wonderful?

Then it was simply a matter of getting myself from Italy back to NZ! The travel was super easy and now I’m finishing this update as I sit back at University in Dunedin seven weeks later. 

There are many thanks to be made, the first to Benton Hess and all of the incredible teachers and coaches at Si parla si canta and Centro Studi Italiani. Thank you thank you thank you for the most surreal and life changing experience I have had in my young life so far! 

And also to everyone who helped make this trip a possibility. To every single human being who came to one of my fundraising concerts, to the Inspire Foundation, the Cheviot Lions, Paul and Carol Stigley and Columba College for holding a fundraising concert in my absence! The generosity of all of these people/organisations is staggering and I cannot thank you all enough! 

Please keep popping back here every now and then, as there are some exciting things coming up to round off 2017 and I cannot wait to share them all with you! 

Until next time,

Harry 

1/3 Gone!

Ladies and gentleman! Welcome back to this semi regular update location! And would you look at that, here's an update! 

It's slightly scary to think that we are beginning week three of the course! 1/3 finished! But still so much to learn! (Also, I've been told that I use exclamation marks too regularly, so please imagine at will that full stops are exclamation marks! That was the last one, I promise.)

Since I last updated, much has happened, the first thing being my participation in a Masterclass with Chris Merritt. It was wonderful, as it always is, to have an opportunity to coach with a tenor of his calibre and it was an incredibly informative and useful session. As always it was a delight to hear my colleagues sing. 

Sunday involved a day trip to Firenze which was an incredibly hot yet surreal experience. I knew I was in a truly Italian city when the first square I walked into was surrounded by ancient castles and had a big band playing band versions of Italian arias. My favourites were an uptempo rendition of the Pearl Fishers duet and Largo al factotum from The Barber of Seville, truly toe tapping! While melting, we managed to see many popular parts of the city such as the Duomo (which I think might be more beautiful the the Milan Duomo, but don't tell the Milanese I said that!) the Ponte Vecchio and la Santa Maria Nuovo, another incredible church. As with many of these day trips, they are so wonderful but one can only see so much in 5 hours. Another fundraising concert or two may fix that! 

Our weekdays, as explained before, are jam packed with Italian Language and coaching. One coach I have had the honour to work with twice is Enza Ferrari. This incredible woman was once the coach of Maria Callas. No biggie. Another element that has been fantastic is my introduction to Alexander technique. Working with Thomas Baird, Juilliard, Metropolitan Opera baroque dance specialist (again, no biggie) has been such an interesting experience working on the awareness of your body and how it all functions together. My biggest epiphany of the course so far is that we human beings like to make everything much harder than it has to be and get in our own ways all of the time.

We continue to truck along in language learning conjugations with regular and irregular verbs, articles, the genders of nouns and many more invigorating aspects of grammar! But in truth, they are very fun and our teacher Anna is fantastic! 

This weekend included a wonderful little hike to a nearby village of Peglio which overlooks Urbania and the surrounding movie set that we are living in. Followed by an afternoon at the local pool and wonderful evening with friends, it was a much needed recharge day! This Sunday had a day trip to San Marino, the smallest country within a country in the world, and the seaside town of Rimini. Highlights included more ridiculously stunning views, Yet another beautiful basilica and the beach. There was also a torture museum in San Marino, because everyone needs to know the origin of the iron maiden right? 

The following week involves the second concert of arias and art song by the students of the school and I will be performing the classic Aprile by Tosti. For those who have coached with me, I'm looking for new repertoire I promise! We also have our first concerts this weekend, but I will tell you about them later. This has been and continues to be one of the most surreal experiences of my life so far and I am so grateful to all those who made this a possibility, your kindness and generosity is truly appreciated. 

Again, pop over to my instagram to see some photos, but if you actually want nice photos, I'd just google the locations! (sits in the top right corner, the little picture of the camera)

Until next time, Ciao! 

Harry

Hello from Urbania

Hello all! I've finally gotten around to letting you know how its all been going! We are just about to end week one of the course but before I made my way down to the beautiful little town of Urbania I was in Milan for a few days. It was such an incredible experience, and being able to see a performance at La Scala was out of this world!  Though from now on I think I will try and avoid the boxes, sitting on a stool for three hours was not the most comfortable experience in the world. The rest of my time in Milan was filled with all the things a tourist must do in Milan, going to the Duomo do Milano, The Castello Sforzesco, the Crypt of Leondardo, the Arch of Peace and so on. One moment that was pretty special was going into a church hundreds of years old and asking the lovely old man in what evolved into sign language if I could sing in it. I pulled out all of my sacred repertoire, Panis Angelicus and the first half of Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus! It was a surreal experience nontheless. 

On the third I headed back out of the city to the airport where I met up with all of the other students and staff of the program. They are from all over the States, with others from Sweden, Canada and Brazil! (I'm probably forgetting someone so sorry!). From there it was a six hour bus trip into Urbania, which is where we are based for the next month and a half! It is a wonderful town which plays host to Centro Studi Italiani, the language school where we spend our mornings. Our teacher doesn't speak any English during lessons, and there are only nine of us in the class so its nice and small. The afternoons and evenings are then focused on the coaching of scenes and and individual sessions with the coaches who are all fantastic, obviously. The scenes that I am in are fantastic because I get to sing repertoire from Monteverdi (l'incoronazione di Poppea) and Cavalli (L'Egisto) to Donizetti (Lucia) and Verdi! (The brindisi from La Traviata, give me strength!!) 

On Sunday we head out to Firenze for the day, and we have a masterclass with Chris Merritt tonight that I am singing in, so needless to say after day one all is going well! 

Also I can't put photos on here for some silly reason on my IPad, so if you head over to my Instagram (the little camera image in the top right) you can find some there!

Until next time, because who knows when that will be,

Harry

Under a Week!

In just under a week I will be getting on a plane to head to Italy! It's all starting to feel incredibly real! It's been a challenging but incredibly rewarding experience working up to leaving, with many university assignments and ensembles to learn, ranging from Cavalli and Monteverdi scenes to the Sextet from Lucia di Lammermoor and the incredibly fast Fugue from Falstaff! The photos below are from fundraising concert 1/3 at the St Andrews College Chapel in March.

Before I head down to Urbania, where the school is based, I am having a few days in Milan to be a bit of a tourist. The first day I get there I am going to be attending Don Giovanni at La Scala starring Thomas Hampson, so you will no doubt be hearing about that! 

The School itself doesn't start until the 5th, with Italian Language classes all morning Monday to Friday and coachings and rehearsals in the afternoons. the above photo shows the beautiful town we will be staying in, Urbania, which hosts the language school we are attending, Centro Studi Itali. 

That's all for now, but be on the look out for further updates in the coming weeks! 

Harry