A Return to the Hustle - Season 25/26

To set the mood: An album i recently came across - Leon Bridges 'Coming Home' - it's got good vibes - give it a listen!

To set the scene: I am in Adelaide, on a very lovely spring day, sitting in the foyer of our rehearsal space listening to the cast of The Merry Widow rehearse through some of the ensembles.

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Hello internet — and dare I say, loyal supporters who actually read this!

Yes, you. The chosen few who wade through the ocean of cat videos, memes, and political hot takes to find this humble singer’s blog. Welcome back.

It’s been a while since my last update, and that’s mostly because July was what I like to call a strategic withdrawal from all things internet. Others might just call it “a break.” I took some time to decompress, enjoying a rainy Austrian summer, reflect on the year that’s been, scribble down some plans for the one ahead, and, most importantly, learn a truly indecent amount of new music in preparation for what is shaping up to be… well, let’s just say, a season so full it makes my calendar look like it needs a lie down and a cup of tea.

View from the venue at Festival Castel Artes in Mirepoix, France

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So, what’s ahead? Glad you asked:

This season kicked off in France with a production of Così fan tutte (because nothing says August like rapidly rehearsed Mozart and French wine). Then I hopped on a plane to Australia, narrowly making my connecting flight in Abu Dhabi, where I’m now busy with The Merry Widow (touring with Co-Opera) and Roméo et Juliette with State Opera South Australia. Come December, I’ll be back in Europe — with a cheeky pit stop in Basel for some friendly catch-ups, concerts of Neapolitan songs and French chanson, in France with a wonderful accordionist friend, a likely pre-christmas trip to Germany for more social catch ups before parking myself in Toulouse for Weinberg’s The Passenger. (A piece as harrowing as it is important — the story of a Holocaust survivor confronting her past while en route to America.)

From there, it’s onwards to New Zealand for a whirlwind month: Les pêcheurs de perles with Days Bay Opera, Handel’s Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno (for those who love oratorios with titles longer than most airline safety manuals), and a recital of Lieder with the brilliant pianist Catherine Norton — with a few “to be confirmed” surprises in some to be confirmed NZ locations.

And because I clearly have an aversion to staying still, I’ll head back to Europe for Die Zauberflöte with Orchestre Victor Hugo in Besançon, before closing out the year with Strauss’ Salome in Toulouse. (Insert joke here about how ending the year with a severed head feels both on-brand and slightly cathartic.)

All the dates and details are up on my schedule, so if you’re local to any of these places, please do come along. Applause is, after all, the singer’s version of coffee.

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Now, if you’re reading all this thinking, Wow, that’s a packed year, you are correct. This is, in fact, my very first year as a “full-time singer” where the “full” part is finally accurate. Exciting? Absolutely. Terrifying? Also yes.

See, here’s the honesty portion of the blog (because you know I can’t resist oversharing): I am, at heart, a professional procrastinator. If there were a competition for strategic napping or elaborate desk reorganising, I’d be a gold medalist. So, while this year thrills me, it also scares the living daylights out of me.

Why? Oh, where to begin:

• Another year of floating around the world without a fixed base.

• The looming uncertainty of “what happens after this season?”

• New music piling up like unopened emails.

• Auditions (which often feel like speed dating with panels who don’t laugh at your jokes).

• Financial insecurities — because let’s be real, opera isn’t exactly a get-rich-quick scheme. Plus keep in mind many unexpected costs will fall into this year with auditions, competitions, recordings, photos and promos and the like....

It’s enough to make anyone reach for the wine bottle… or at least a strong cup of tea.

And yet, here’s the paradox: the very act of preparation — the practice, the research, the quiet joy of making something new your own — is what makes me happiest. I love that flow state. But the fear of not being prepared can be so paralyzing that it keeps me from… preparing. Humans are weird, aren’t we?

So, I’ll end this with a question for you, reader: am I the only one who finds themselves caught in this loop, or is this some sort of universal creative struggle? And if you’ve cracked the code — if you’ve found a way to silence the voice of doubt and just get on with it — please, share your secrets.

Brasserie Bofinger in Paris - a quick stopover before flying to Australia meant having to have dinner here with some good friends (part of 'Team Paris' of my international support crew)

And maybe that’s the quiet moral of it all: life as a singer, or any creative, is never going to be without its chaos, its fears, its “what ifs.” The trick, I think, is to keep showing up anyway — music prepared, fears in tow, heart on sleeve. Because in the end, the art, the music, the stories — they’re worth it. And so, I hope, are we.

So, here’s to the next season — and thank you for joining me along the way! I’m looking forward to sharing not just the music, but the journey itself: the highs, the nerves, the inevitable travel mishaps, and the thoughts that bubble up from another year circling the sun by, quite literally, circling the globe. Here’s hoping you’ll stick around for the ride — it wouldn’t be half as meaningful without you.

Till the next one!

Z