Where did the inspiration for Casta Diva come from?

Tiny seeds of the idea were sewn when I was still at school. I used to play principal trumpet in the Sevenoaks Symphony Orchestra and the conductor, Darrell Davison, brought me in to do some concertos with the orchestra. He arranged ‘O Sole Mio’ as an encore for trumpet and orchestra and then also did the ‘Una furtive lagrima’ from L’eisir d’amore .They went down so well with the audience and really suited my style of playing. They’re very expressive and emotional, as well as being lyrical and melodic. I think the trumpet still has those stereotypes attached to it of being used for a military fanfare, or loud interjections, and also is obviously historically ‘male’. So showcasing the expressive and lyrical side were things that were really important to me with this disc.

What’s your own relationship to opera?

I was not raised on opera at all. The first time I actually went to an opera was while I was at Cambridge. My tonal skills supervisor Chad Kelly worked at the ENO and when I told him I'd never been to an opera, he got me a ticket to a dress rehearsal of Meistersinger. I went down to London and that was my first ever opera that I went to - in my second year at Cambridge. So my relationship with opera is relatively new and still developing!

How did you prepare for recording the disc?

I listened to as many different interpretations and versions of each aria as I could to get a general picture and learn a bit more about the musical writing at the time. I actually did a whole paper on Rossini in my final year at Cambridge, so I had a fair bit of academic knowledge. The paper was mainly focused on his overtures, but I learned a lot about the different types of operas and the different styles of composition.

I also had a session with a really good friend of mine, Michael Craddock, who sings in Gesualdo Six. Mike specialises in that repertoire, so he helped me with idiomatic ways of phrasing, explaining the kind of melismas they would have in a lot of these arias, especially in the cavatina, which is more fast and virtuosic. Often the same music happens twice, but they would have embellished it the second time around. Once I'd done all that kind of research, I then had to look at the trumpet and the instrument and say, ok, what could the trumpet do that singers couldn't have done? For example, bringing out some longer phrases or other techniques, particularly in the variations.

What has it been like working with Chandos?

It has been fantastic so far and we have more plans in the works! I think what became apparent very quickly is how important the relationship between the artist and the label is for them. They are so passionate about it being a mutual relationship and they really look after their artists. 

How do you think the trumpet is able to express this music?

I want to show the versatility of the trumpet. On the disc we've got bel canto arias that tend to start with the cavatina, which is more lyrical. A couple of them also have recitativo sections. That was quite interesting to mimic the voice and the pacing, so I paid quite a lot of attention to the lyrics and the type of articulation that I was using.

I think the trumpet is the instrument that's closest to the human voice, or at least brass instruments in general are, just because of the physical way of playing. With brass instruments, your actual human body is vibrating to make the sound in the same way that the vocal cords do. Then there’s the actual physical elements of tonguing and air flow. You need to have an open throat. All of that is very, very similar I think, or at least the most similar, to the voice.

How are you able to communicate the range and styles of the operatic music on the trumpet?

The two Mercadante arias are sung by a tenor voice, so I use my bigger ‘C’ trumpet, which has a slightly brighter, bigger sound than a smaller trumpet. Then some of the soprano arias sound really nice on a smaller trumpet, like the Eb, because it's got a sweeter sound. A couple of the pieces are on B flat trumpet because those ones were actually written for the instrument - the title track Bellini's Norma - the Casta Diva is on a B flat. I also included the flugelhorn on the disc in the Rossini Prelude, theme and variations, which was originally written for French horn in homage to Rossini’s father.

What are you hoping this disc will bring to the worlds of opera and classical music?

These works can slot into many different concert scenarios, so I hope I can introduce a lot of different audiences to this music because it's beautiful and I love how expressive it is. Some of it is light and playful and others are cheeky and joyful - there's so much joy in the music. But then there's also the deep, sad romances where someone’s praying to the moon or declaring their love for someone. It's just all about the emotions for me - the way it makes you feel.

Casta Diva is out now on Chandos Records