‘You’re always learning’

Henrietta Bredin talks to Sally Burgess about taking on the role of Carmen

Just as dancers are fortunate if they have especially long legs and strong, flexible feet, there are all sorts of different physical attributes that can help a singer to produce a good sound. But there’s a particular facial, or cranial, disposition which certain singers share and which is to do with high cheekbones and a generously sized mouth indicating a large, resonant cavity within. Renée Fleming has it and so does Sally Burgess, who uses it to produce not only a luscious singing tone but also a fabulously abandoned, down-and-dirty laugh. It’s a laugh that certainly featured in her performances of Bizet’s Carmen, back in the late Eighties at English National Opera, and may well have been employed on numerous occasions since then, as she went on to sing the role in opera houses worldwide.

Actors can and do perform the same role more than once during the course of their careers but singers do so with more frequency. Indeed 50 or more years ago, most singers would only ever perform a tiny handful of operatic roles, refining and deepening their interpretation with every repetition.

‘That doesn’t really happen any more, thank heavens — it would be so boring! But there’s something incredibly rewarding about singing a role lots of times, if you’re good at it, because you get better each time. You’re always learning.’

Was that ENO Carmen her first?

‘Yes, it was, and it was a fantastic grounding for all the other Carmens I did afterwards. It was in English, of course, which was wonderful because it meant that I really understood everything that was sung, and got the meaning under my skin from the start.