On the town

Change is happening in Bradford on Avon, the small town I call home. When we moved here twenty years ago, there were two butchers, three if you include the one in the old independent supermarket, now a Co-op, at the top of town. There were also two greengrocers, two bakers, a rather dreary cheese shop

The tooth of the matter

 There’s little doubt that, recently, I’ve been feeling unusually glum and tetchy. I’m assuming that occasional bouts of moroseness are normal. They certainly go with the territory of being a travelling opera singer, as a conversation with any singer I’ve ever known will attest. There’s nothing like being stuck in dreary digs for a few

Narrative bore

I’ve been thinking a great deal about the confluence of various events: the woes of ENO, the success of their new Akhnaten production, a debate on Facebook about whether opera is losing out to music theatre, Mark Rylance’s Oscar acceptance speech, and an experience of my own. The chances are, since you’re reading this, that