Our Chair Liz Nielsen, also met up with baritone Derek
Welton on her current trip in London and sent this through:
“Derek, coming from Melbourne, is, like all Australians in
London, on a continual search for decent coffee. So he arranged to meet me
at Nude Espresso just off Brick Lane run by New Zealanders and serving great
coffee. I arrived on my folding bike as Brick Lane is close to our daughter's
flat in East London. Derek is a tall young man of only 28 years with a wonderfully
deep speaking voice. He will make a very impressive Creon. He is also happy to
be coming home and will spend 2 weeks with his family when he arrives so he
will be all over jet lag and ready for rehearsals. He holds a Master of Music
and Performance (Opera) from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he
is currently a Vocal Department Fellow. Derek is currently performing the role
of Farfarello in Prokofiev’s L’amour des trois oranges, and in rehearsal for Bonzo
in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly
for Grange Park Opera. Helen Sherman, who was in
the chorus for several of our productions before she went to the UK is also in
Butterfly (as Suzuki). Nice to see how well all these young Australians are doing.”
When Derek was in Australia last the Herald Sun had this to say "‘A voice
as rich and dark as the finest chocolate". Yum!
Anna
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