Nuts, water and no carbs
British soprano Louise Alder reveals how she’s preparing to take command of the stage at the Last Night of the Proms
Will Alder
- Michael Hodges
The Last Night of the Proms is on Saturday at 7pm on Radio 3. Add it to your collection
Ad
Millions of radio ears and television eyes will be upon soprano Louise Alder when she sings Rule, Britannia! at the Last Night of the Proms this Saturday. A nerve-racking prospect for many, but when she walks on stage at the Royal Albert Hall, Alder’s focus will primarily be on mastering the enormous space. “You look out from the centre of that stage and it’s mind-blowing,” she says. “You’re singing into a chasm initially, so you must project. The Prommers are close, yet there are people far away, right up in the gallery.”
The 38-year-old has previously sung West Side Story, Strauss and Mozart at the Proms, but her relationship with the world’s greatest classical music festival began dramatically in 2014. While on holiday in Thailand, she answered a phone call from Glyndebourne Festival Opera. They were taking Der Rosenkavalier to the Albert Hall, but the singer playing romantic lead Sophie had fallen ill; Alder was straight on the plane. “I made several debuts that night,” she recalls. “My company debut, Proms debut, London Philharmonic Orchestra debut and Radio 3 debut.” After that, I suggest, Alder must be used to big pressure moments at the venue. “I don’t think you get used to the Royal Albert Hall,” she points out firmly. “Not ever.”
Her day will begin with a photo call and then last rehearsals. She’ll avoid heavy carbs – “they make you feel horrendous and sleepy after an hour and a half” – snacking on nuts instead and drinking a lot of water. “I drink all the time,” she says. “We singers have to go to the loo a lot.” After that it will be her, a sea of flags and a very public chance to shine.
I escape on stage – the performer in me is another beast
Alder, who won the audience prize at the Cardiff Singer of the World competition in 2017 and is the state school-educated daughter of a violinist mother and opera-singer father,
was surprised when she got the Proms call. “I thought, ‘My God. I’m Louise, I grew up in Wimbledon. They’ve had Jonas Kaufmann and Lise Davidsen on that stage. What on earth do they want me for?’ ” She is resolutely unassuming. When I point out the acclaim for her Contessa in The Marriage of Figaro at Glyndebourne (which also came to the Proms this summer), she says, “It seems to have gone down well.” Then jokes, “Is that a British enough answer for you?”
She didn’t even plan to be a singer. “I thought it was weird, that opera singing was a bit odd,” she says. “Dad singing seemed different because it wasn’t as warbly as some female voices can be. It took a while for me to understand what classical singing in an operatic way was.” It would be a mistake, as the Last Night should demonstrate, to read that as timidity. “I get to escape when I go on stage,” she says. “I’m still Louise Alder, but the performer in me is another beast.”
Louise Alder’s Proms debut. Chris Christodoulou / ArenaPAL
When we speak, Alder has just had a fitting for her costume, co-created with stage and theatre designer Nicky Shaw. “I will be doing three costumes,” she tells me. “There’s a special one for Rule, Britannia! You’ll have to wait and see what the colours are.” I ask if she’s entirely comfortable with the imperial swagger of Rule, Britannia!, which pained Sheku Kanneh-
Mason so much he called for its cancellation. “I’m very honoured to do the Last Night of the Proms. That’s the bottom line,” is her response.
Too polite, perhaps, to discomfort the BBC, Alder chooses to emphasise the event’s feel-good quotient. “I think that British celebratory party atmosphere appeals; it’s exciting seeing a huge chorus and soloist and a large orchestra all enjoying themselves so much.” And what will Alder be feeling as she steps out on Saturday? “That I want to convey excitement and a bit of light in this moment in a world that can feel quite heavy. I think we need concerts like this. We need to feel uplifted.”
Ad
The Last Night of the Proms will also be televised — the first half on BBC Two, the second on BBC One
Authors
Michael Hodges
Ad
Ad
Get the Christmas double issue
Too much to watch at Christmas? Let Radio Times do the choosing to find something the whole family will enjoy.
Loading...
Ad
Loading...