Anouschka Lara - Soprano

Brief history with Samling Foundation:
I was delighted to be chosen for a week masterclass with Sir Thomas Allen, Malcolm Martineau, Paul Farrington, Caroline Dowdle and Patricia MacMahon. What struck me immediately was the warm welcome and the agreeable atmosphere. Although the other students and I knew we were there for a week of intensive work, we all felt quickly at ease and relaxed. Needless to write that the week was absolutely wonderful! With two sessions for each of us per day, we learnt a lot about technique, interpretation and...MUSIC!!! Another great moment was our short session of Pilates with Paul Farrington each morning...after breakfast!
I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed this experience!

Quote:
"...an intensive, constructive work in a relaxed atmosphere...precious advice on technique, interpretation and vocal health by exceptional teachers...a great opportunity for young singers to explore the depth and richness of music...in enchanting surroundings! The Samling Foundation is a jewel!"

Past Achievements: Anouschka Lara (soprano) studied languages, literature, dancing and drama (Guildford School of Acting) before taking a place at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (under the tuition of Laura Sarti and Annette Thompson) from which she graduated with first class honours in July 2000.
She successfully completed the Advanced Opera Course at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (under the tuition of Patricia MacMahon and Patricia Hay) in July 2002.

Roles performed in part include: Susanna, Zerlina, Morgana, Atalanta, Sophie, Euridice, Adina and the entire roles of: Calisto (Cavalli), Poussette (Massenet) and Lauretta (Pergolesi). Whilst studying at the RSAMD, she won the Lieder Prize and the Ye Cronies Opera Award. She has taken part in masterclasses with Rudolf Piernay, Sarah Walker, Elly Ameling, Michael Chance, Jordi Savall, Dominick Argento among others and was chosen by Graham Johnson for his "Young Songmakers Almanac" and by the Samling Foundation for masterciasses with Thomas Allen, Paul Farrington and Malcolm Martineau.
She has performed as a soloist in various festivals (International Musik Festival Davos, Porta Ferrada International Festival), recitals and oratorios in several European countries. She was supported by the Barcapel Foundation and the Migros-Genossenschafts-Bund.

Current Activities: Having left college in July 2002, I am now organizing my time around auditions, competitions and concerts.

Forthcoming Activities: On the 7th April 2003, Anouschka will give a song recital with her pianist Alexis Delgado at the Wigmore Hall (being an Award winner of The Maisie Lewis Young Artist Fund). She will be performing the roles of Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro) in Madrid in July 2003 and La Blanche Aline (Les Aventures du Roi Pausole) in Fribourg in December 2003.

Reviews: The Glasgow Herald, Friday 8/6/01 - Opera School Showcase, RSAMD, Glasgow, Conrad Wilson.
It was a showcase confined mostly to the Italian language, to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. to a pair of chairs, a table, and a chaise-longue. But within these restrictions, the RSAMD's Opera School presented a resourceful evening of snippets both tragic and comic, slow and fast, powerful and piquant by ensuring that one little scene led almost without pause into the next - if only some of our big-scale opera companies could do as much - the director, Lee Blakely~ kept the programme on the move, achieving in the process some artful juxtapositions.
The pace did much to conceal the elements that did not quite work and the portrayals - mostly male -that fell below the often remarkable level of female singing and acting. The men, indeed, were disappointingly wooden in comparison with Miranda Keys's passionate Leonora in La For~a del Destino, with Sophie Graf as a Violetta poignantly fumbling with her clothes at the end of La Traviata, and, above all, with Anouschka Lara as a tiny Adina bewitchingly teasing her hulk of a Nemorino in L'Elirir d'Amor.
Though the absence of anything more modern than the love duet from La Boheme (1896) was shocking, the presence of Ottavia's lament from L'Incoronazione di Poppea, eloquently voiced by Lucy Taylor, from the earlier end of the repertoire helped to compensate.
The use of monochrome costumes, within a context of discreet but consistent updating, served to unify what could have been a muddled evening. So did the omnipresent sofa, reminding us how many operas can be enacted on and around that single prop. Repeat performance tomorrow.

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