Trespassing With: Valda Wilson

From a Bachelor of Science (Hons1 no less) to the National Opera Studio in London, on a scholarship from Opera Foundation Australia, with a Diploma of Opera from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music along the way, it has been a quick and seemingly effortless (as the talented so often make it look) rise for Australian opera singer, Valda Wilson.

If a whirlwind 2007 and 2008, in which Valda established herself as a voice to watch (which numerous awards will attest to) can be likened to a launching pad (which I will liken it to anyway, because everyone loves an analogy) 2009 is the rocket year. Valda is currently in London where, when not singlehandedly putting on one-woman-show concerts that aren’t supposed to be one-woman-shows (that’s how talented she is) she flits to Paris for auditions and unwinds by strolling through Kensington Gardens.

For all these reasons and more, we’ve chosen Valda as the latest intrepid talent to answer as many as she can of our invasive (politely so) questions. If this interview isn’t enough and you feel like falling into the pit of inferiority that often follows reading about life’s over-achievers, head here.

1. Name:  Valda Byth Wilson (‘Valda’ means ‘teutonic battle maiden’… I’m not going to try to explain/defend that one!)
2. Occupation:  Opera singer
3. Reason I am being trespassed: I moved to London on a scholarship from Opera Foundation Australia, to the National Opera Studio – a kind of finishing school for opera singers, the best of its kind in the United Kingdom and a springboard to a career in the UK and Europe.  I spent my last six months in Sydney in OzOpera Schools Company, the touring arm of Opera Australia, performing two or three shows a day to primary school children across New South Wales.  They are the most honest audience you will ever find
4. Fave book:  ‘Perfume’ by Patrick Süsskind … deeply disturbing but a dazzlingly written book where the primary focus is not on how things look, or how they sound or even how they feel, but on how they smell, appealing to some of our most primitive urges.
5. Fave movie:  ‘Robin Hood:  Men In Tights’  … Certainly my most-watched!  Behind that would be ‘Reality Bites’ and ‘Empire Records.’
6. Fave shopping spot:  In Sydney, I really enjoyed going to the Bondi and Glebe Markets.  Now in London, my favourite store for dresses that sit just this side of formal is ‘Monsoon.’ 
7. My best memory:  I remember a hike in Tasmania about six years ago, waking up before sunrise to climb a jagged peak… we scrabbled up over cliffs (which turned out to be quite dangerous, but the fog was so thick we didn’t realise until we were coming down again!) to eventually rise above the thick clouds and see the sun come up over an ocean of cloud.
8. When I was little I wanted to:  be a novelist, a professional horserider, a vet and a doctor (by turns).
9. Fave TV Show:  ‘Arrested Development’  I was only recently introduced to this gem amongst the crud that is American TV comedy shows, and I can’t believe it got shafted to such a late timeslot in Australia!  It is genius.  Maybe people don’t quite know when to laugh when there is no canned laughter?
10. Can’t live without:  Time to myself and at least one hug a day.
11. If I could live anywhere in the world, I would choose:  Sydney.  Once they invent a magical way for people to travel from Australia to Europe and the USA within an hour…  So I could commute between the opera houses here and my apartment in North Sydney.
12. First album I ever bought:  Alanis Morissette ‘Jagged Little Pill’  – and I still enjoy it.
13. Song I can’t get out of my head:  Any of the scenes I’m working on at the Studio… right now it is chunks of La Traviata by Verdi.  I’ve always had a problem with sticking to singing the vocal line though; it’s much more fun to attempt to recreate the entire band (or in this case, entire orchestra).
14. I wish I wrote/sang/directed:   I’d love to sing the Count’s aria from Le nozze di Figaro by Mozart, it’s brilliant.  Anything by Jill Scott and Ani diFranco, two completely different voices, but both of them sing right from their gut and I love it.
15. When I grow up I want to be:   able to laugh at myself, still.
16. My goals for the next two years: 
    To finish my studies at the National Opera Studio; 
    undertake some summer schools in Italy and France in the styles of Bel Canto (literally ‘beautiful singing’ – I know, strange that this should somehow be separate from other operatic singing… I don’t understand it either), Mozart and Haydn;
    work in a Young Artists Development Programme in a European or UK opera house for a year.
17. Five years:  Merrily working away in more major houses in Germany and the UK.
18. Ten years:  Returning to Sydney to sing with Opera Australia, either as a regular artist or a visiting one.  I would love to work at least part time in Australia.  As much as I find my life in London exciting and inspiring, ‘I still call Australia home’ (that song doesn’t seem nearly so gorgonzola-laden when you’ve actually had to live away from home for a while!)
19. The thing that bugs me about life is:  that you don’t know what’s in store for you…
20. But the thing that makes it all worthwhile is:  the wonderful surprise when something fabulous comes up!
21. Top three travel essentials are:  a big wide scarf which you can drape around yourself – you can slouch as much as you like and no one will know; moisturiser; good walking shoes.
22. The first thing I do each morning is:  make a big mug of Earl Grey Tea and marvel at the amount of mascara that must have still been on my eyelashes to have resulted in such tragic panda eyes.
23. I unwind by:  practising yoga and going to walk on Hampstead Heath or Kensington Gardens.
24. The last thing I do at night:  a couple of spinal twists which always make my back crack.  Always.
25. I wish I could:  go for a run without looking like some kind of wounded beast after five minutes.
26. On Sundays I like to:  find a new part of London and explore it with a friend.
27. I got my big break when:
    I won Opera Foundation Australia’s 2008 Rockend National Opera Studio London Scholarship at the national final in Melbourne, last May.  It was a crazy couple of days:  I was working for OzOpera in Sydney, and had to travel to Melbourne, do a drama workshop with an operatic director (on which we were judged), fly back to Sydney that night, sing two Barber of Seville’s the next day and immediately fly once more to Melbourne, arriving just in time to get to the finals concert in the centre – I have a photograph of me running down Collins St, sparkly performance gown over one arm and hair in hot rollers so that I wouldn’t be late for the pre-performance briefing.
    I really could not believe it at the time but I hope that I am living up to their expectations!
28. Dancing makes me buzz but people who constantly dwell on the negatives deplete me.
29. The advice I’d give Trespass readers is:  try to be as honest as you can as often as you can, and don’t be afraid of your own company – sometimes it is good to stop in this overstimulated society and just feel yourself within your own body.
30. One Reason they should love me is:  I am upfront and passionate about what I do.
31. Last thing I bought:  A facial oil from a natural remedies shop called Neal’s Yard, based on neroli oil, hempseed oil, macadamia, rose, …
    Apparently it will help slow the signs of aging and ‘leave my skin radiant like never before.’  Fantastic!
32. I wish I never:  developed such an outstanding ability to fall in love with unacceptable men (stand-up comedians, foreigners, and my best friends).
33. Ideal Invention:   as previously mentioned, the magical transporter that can allow me to work in Europe and London but live in Sydney.
34. One word to describe me is:  open.