Last week was the annual Aria Alba residential rehearsal week for Edinburgh Fringe, and this year we were delighted to spend the week rehearsing Bizet's tragic opera Carmen. It was a record breaking year for attendance, and I was lucky to work with a full cast of 24 singers from Edinburgh and beyond to help them in their mission to learn a new opera in time for performances at Melrose and Stockbridge Parish Church this August. (Tickets are already on sale for both click the venue to be redirected to the sales pages).

This year I was once again joined at Ardentinny Outdoor Centre by the inimitable Max McWhirter at the piano. Max just finished his Masters in accompanying at Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. I was also delighted to be working closely with another RCS graduate, Suzanne Godet, who is conducting her first complete opera with the company.
It was a pleasure to get to know Suzanne better, and her hard work and enthusiasm is already making its mark at Aria Alba. She has done amazing work to recruit a professional level orchestra for Carmen, and the singers involved will all benefit hugely from the experience of singing opera on a new level.
Another great aspect of the work at Ardentinny was seeing how the performers transformed through the week. Many are singing their first ever opera, and on first arrival they had their fair share of doubts. But, by the end of the week they completed a full run of the opera to a very enthusiastic audience. Not everything went 100% to plan (poor Jose took a fair beating from Carmen... then again he did murder her at the end...), but the overall production is in good shape for final rehearsals and everyone involved should be extremely proud of what they accomplished.

I look forward to returning to Ardentinny again next year, feeling the cold water of Loch Long between my toes once more, and celebrating the members of Aria Alba as they prepare Die Fledermaus.
Well done team! Onwards and Upwards!
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