Tamsin Birch on her time on the Serena Fenwick programme
Soprano Tamsin Birch shares her experiences of our Serena Fenwick programme for singers. Find out more about the programme here.
The Serena Fenwick Programme has been so instrumental in my development as a singer these past few months. As a young lyric soprano, it has been hard to know what is right to present in terms of repertoire at each stage and with differing opinions I was starting to become unsure of who I was as an Artist. The support that British Youth Opera have given me through the Serena Fenwick programme has been amazing and now I feel confident with going out into the world knowing what my strengths are and who I am as an Artist again, which is something I think got lost for many singers during the pandemic.
The Serena Fenwick Programme has just been truly inspirational by not only giving us 15 hours of one-to-one coaching to help and develop us and our audition repertoire with a mutually agreed coach, but every week during the programme there are weekly group sessions which have encompassed a wide range of skillsets and masterclasses from leading industry professionals. I honestly believe I have learnt more from these sessions in 4 months that I have done during my time at Conservatoire.
We have managed to touch on everything, including movement with Bence Kalo where we got to discover the use of masks. We also got to explore how our bodies move and impact the way we are perceived on stage and the characters we are trying to portray. We were extremely lucky to work with leading directors such as Max Webster and Jack Furness who individually gave us a different toolbox of skills as it were to take into the industry and the rehearsal room.
We managed to spend time with incredibly talented singers such as Andrew Shore, Sir Thomas Allen and Susan Bullock who all imparted their wisdom on our repertoire of choice. Andrew Shore tackled English repertoire with us, Sir Thomas Allen tackled Mozart and Susan Bullock tackled anything we fancied. Each masterclass was different in both energy and theme but there was so much to gain not only from participating but from watching and learning from my fellow singers.
British Youth Opera does not lie when it portrays the Serena Fenwick Programme as a ‘career booster’, the auditions skills session with David Gowland was fantastic. As singers we sat on the other side of the table and watched our colleagues come in and present themselves and sing. It was so refreshing to see what it is like on the other side. Some epiphanies that we all realised during this day was that it is that you shouldn’t base your audition on what your best singing was but what the worst part was and that is the bar that you need to raise. We also realised that people in casting in general want you to come in and fix all their problems which is a far more positive spin on entering an audition scenario.
Having a professional set of recordings is paramount, especially post pandemic when panels realise that it is a much cheaper way of reducing the footfall of auditions. Having a good video recording is expensive so having the opportunity of having an amazing pianist such as Jo Ramadan accompany alongside Knight Classical recording is truly a dream team, and something not attainable money wise for young singers trying to enter the industry. The videos are fantastic and helped us to create a strong package when entering talks with agencies and opera companies.
Lastly the agents showcase was a great way to bring the course together as it meant we could really show what we could do to industry professionals. Every single member of the programme had developed throughout those months, and it was really beautiful to hear and watch them perform to industry experts.
Overall, I feel British Youth Opera have really given me the musical, dramatic skillset and confidence boost I needed to begin my career as freelance Soprano and for that I am forever grateful.