Festivals: The performers’ perspective

Diaries are slowly filling up again for some musicians, but the logistics of getting back to work are proving complex, says Clare Stevens

If you are a performer, read page 16 for guidance on the practical things you should watch out for before signing your contract

Left: Lucy Schaufer Elegy for Young Lovers (Act 2) Lucy as Carolina Photo: Robert Workman Operatic tenor Thomas Elwin was looking forward to an exciting summer in 2020; after several years spent mainly working and training in Germany, he had returned home to England and was building his reputation with warm reviews for performances with the Classical Opera Company, English National Opera and English Touring Opera. He was due to sing the role of Lensky in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin for the first time at West Green House Opera in Hampshire.

Then along came COVID-19 and Elwin’s plans were shattered; he spent much of the summer of 2020 running and walking his dog in the fields around his Herefordshire home. English Touring Opera looked after its contracted artists well during the autumn, and he was able to record some performances that should have been presented on the company’s UK tour for release on YouTube through the winter, together with some education projects such as singing lessons for adults. His portfolio of online performances during the pandemic has also included contributions to the Equilibrium Young Artists’ programme, for which he was mentored by the soprano Barbara Hannigan.

But none of this is the same as performing in front of a real-life audience. As this summer’s festival season begins, Elwin is once more hoping to sing his first Lensky, as West Green’s production of Eugene Onegin has been rescheduled to 31 July and 1 August this year. The company has stated that short of circumstances beyond its control (such as further government/local authority-imposed lockdowns), it has every intention of going ahead with its season as planned. Social distancing measures will include staggered entry and departure times for guests, and there will be temperature checks for guests, creatives and staff.

Similar precautions are being taken at Glyndebourne Opera Festival, where masks will be worn around the site, audience numbers will be reduced and there will be reduced numbers in the chorus and in the orchestra. Glyndebourne receives no public subsidy and has suffered a devastating financial impact from the cancellation of last year’s festival and the reduced box office income that will be inevitable this year; however the opera house is determined to provide as normal an experience as possible for both artists and audiences, with four fully-staged operas and a semi-staged production of Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde.

ISM board member Nicky Spence will sing the role of Tichon in Kát’aKabanová by his beloved Janácˇek; the cast is international, but they all arrived in the UK in time to self-isolate before the first day of rehearsals.

While most festivals are planning to go ahead this summer, with or without audiences, the uncertainty over COVID-19 regulations in different countries has made it difficult for artists to decide whether they can travel to fulfil engagements or not. Cellist Alice Neary is hoping to travel to Marlboro in Vermont, USA, at the end of June, and is expecting to quarantine for a week before beginning her performing and teaching activities, unless she has had both vaccinations; but the prospect of quarantining again on her return may make the trip impossible.

Pianist and composer Huw Watkins and his wife, composer Helen Grime, face a similar dilemma regarding their scheduled visit to the Santa Fe Festival in New Mexico, USA. Grime’s new string quartet, a commission postponed from the 2020 festival, is to be premiered by the FLUX Quartet on 4 August and she is due to take part in a pre-concert talk with fellow composer Augusta Read Thomas; while Watkins is involved in several performances including the first US performance of his own new work for piano and percussion with the Scottish percussionist Colin Currie on 10 August. But Grime and Watkins have two young children and the logistics involved in planning their trip with quarantine built in may prove insurmountable.

Fully vaccinated here in the UK, Wiltshire-based soprano Lucy Schaufer is heading for Iowa in May to sing the role of Mrs Lovett in Stephen Sondheim’s musical Sweeney Todd for Des Moines Metro Opera. ‘The NHS provided my jabs, and due to the opera company’s creative leadership, implementing a vaccination policy for everyone involved in its productions, I feel confident that my wellbeing is considered and protected; I am truly grateful and eager to make work again.’