Glyndebourne's Elizabeth DeShong talks Hansel and Gretel (interview)

27th November 2008

It is a long way from Chicago to Glyndebourne, but opera singer Elizabeth DeShong felt quite at home deep in the East Sussex countryside.

The 27-year-old American mezzo soprano, pictured bottom, is making her debut with the British operatic institution, playing Hänsel in German composer Humperdinck’s opera of the dark Brothers Grimm fairytale.

The new production is complemented by two revivals of the Glyndebourne repertoire, Carmen and The Magic Flute, in a nationwide tour to mark the company’s 40th anniversary. The company comes to Plymouth’s Theatre Royal next week.

Elizabeth recently graduated from the Chicago Lyric Opera’s Ryan Opera Center, and has never sung in a British opera before. She has found the experience of rehearsing at Glyndebourne an altogether less frantic experience.

“Glyndebourne has a luxuriously long rehearsal period,” she says.

“In Chicago we would have three weeks to prepare the opera, here we have double that, six weeks.

“Also, they provide you with costumes for the whole of that rehearsal period, which is especially important in a show like Hänsel and Gretel which is very physical. When we are dancing we need to know if the pants allow for jumping around.

“You are running and jumping up and down on beds and then it becomes difficult because you have to manage your breathing so you can sing.”

The rehearsals – six hours a day, six days a week – were so physically demanding she had to shower two or three times a day.

“We are in much better shape now than when we started,” she says.

The challenge in playing Hänsel, she says, was peeling away the layers of adult self-consciousness to enter the impulsive mindset of a child.

“The children, Hänsel and Gretel, are not just scared, they are terrified, they are not just happy, they are ecstatic,” she says.

“We have to act and feel the way you would if you didn’t believe that other people were watching you.

“I have enjoyed every minute of playing Hänsel. It is wonderful to be a kid for six hours in your day, to feel everything in such a true way.”

Elizabeth sings alongside Bernarda Bobro, who plays Gretel. The two singers, both proficient in the German the score is sung in, have a natural rapport on stage.

“Luckily Bernarda and I immediately felt that we had been working together for years,” Elizabeth said.

“We just felt very comfortable with each other. Our physical statures are similar, so working together like that was fun.”

The opera, which was Humperdinck’s most famous work, was influenced by the music of Brahms and Wagner, with an exuberant playfulness which complements the children’s adventures in the forest.

It is conducted by Glyndebourne’s musical director, Robin Ticciati.

“The music tells the story,” says Elizabeth. “It is just like a movie soundtrack.

“If you listen, you know exactly how to feel as a character and as an audience member, you immediately get what it is trying to tell you.”

The experience of being at Glyndebourne has been memorable for Elizabeth – as much for its beautiful surroundings as for the unique professional experience.

“I absolutely have enjoyed every minute of being at Glyndebourne,” she says. “The location alone, outside of the music, is just so gorgeous.

“I was up so early every morning, sitting outside looking at all the sheep in the fields, with a cup of coffee and Ella Fitzgerald, Dusty Springfield and Sarah Vaughan on my iPod.

“I can’t imagine a more beautiful or relaxing place to be, and I would absolutely love to come back.”

Glyndebourne on Tour visits the Theatre Royal in Plymouth from Tuesday to Saturday, December 2-6. Hänsel und Gretel is performed on Thursday, December 4; Carmen is on Tuesday, December 2 and Friday, December 5, and The Magic Flute on Wednesday, December 3 and Saturday, December 6. Tickets cost £16-£46. Box office: call 01752 267222 or visit www.theatreroyal.com

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