Our next soloist is Soprano Ella Taylor (They/Them).
Ella hails from Sheffield. They joined Sheffield Cathedral Choir aged ten, and went on to study a BMus in Music at The University of Sheffield. They are now an emerging star, part of the one percent of opera singers who are trans and dedicated to performing work by people underrepresented in classical music.
Winner of Second Prize at the 2020 Kathleen Ferrier Awards, Ella Taylor is a soprano with a passion for performing contemporary music and works by women and gender non-conforming artists. They graduated from the Royal Academy of Music, where they gained Distinction in MA Performance, a DipRAM for an outstanding final recital and the Charles Norman Prize and during 2019 / 2020 were a Young Artist at London’s National Opera Studio.
Ella will be singing Clara Schumann’s 6 Lieder Op. 13 (newly arranged for voice and orchestra by George Morton), and rejoining us for the last movement of Mahler Symphony No. 4. They will also be joining musicologist, blogger, and Sheffield Philharmonic 2nd Trumpet player, Alex Burns for a pre-concert talk at 7pm diving into the unique challenges and inspirations behind this programme.
We caught up with Ella to ask a few questions of our own:
How do you approach interpreting such different musical styles, thinking particularly of balancing Clara Schumann’s romantic Lieder with something more expansive like a Mahler Symphony?
To be honest my approach remains largely the same for both – you start with the translation and meaning of the text and go from there. The most important thing for me in a performance is honesty and emotional connection to what you’re singing.
You’ve worked extensively with new music and premiered works with socially relevant themes. How do you prepare differently for premieres compared to performing established classical repertoire like Mahler or Schumann?
Normally the only difference between preparing new repertoire and ‘established’ rep is simply that the music is less idiomatic and therefore take more time to learn. Equally a composer might have very specific performance instructions that are outside the realm of traditional singing technique. Everything else very much remains the same though! Nothing to do but sit down at the piano and get it learnt.
You’ve been described as having ‘a voice of tempered steel, wrapped in a warm velvet cloak.’ How does this description resonate with how you feel about your voice and vocal technique?
It feels like everything I strive for in my vocal technique – a core of strength but a beautiful sound that people want to listen to.
As a performer with a passion for contemporary music and works by underrepresented artists, how do you see the role of gender and identity shaping the future of opera and classical music?
I think gender has always shaped the history of opera, particularly in the case of baroque operas. It would be nice if in the future we remembered the inherent playfulness of opera, and that all genders and bodies have a right to take part in it. As for classical music, I think that entirely depends on society at large – until we strip ourselves of the burden of gender stereotypes then an industry like classical music will never move forward in that way, as it essentially has an interest in keeping the status quo.
As someone originally from Sheffield, how does it feel to return and perform with the Sheffield Philharmonic Orchestra? What role does community and home play in your musical journey?
I adore coming home to sing in Sheffield, having not only grown up here but also attended university here. The city is incredibly important to me and the community of musicians both professional and amateur is an amazing one. Being a travelling musician is often a lonely and solitary life, so being able to come home is a real treat – I always try and then take a week off so I can actually enjoy my time here outside of work!
Ella Taylor is an artist on a remarkable trajectory. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to experience their voice with the Sheffield Philharmonic Orchestra.
Tickets are still available, so be sure to reserve your seat at this special musical homecoming!