Born in Bristol, England, soprano Jessica Pratt never imagined she would enjoy singing for the opera. But for Pratt’s father, an operatic tenor, it only seemed natural that his daughter continued his legacy. At 37, the Italy-based soprano couldn’t be more thankful to her father for coaxing her to pursue this career. This evening, Pratt will make her Mumbai debut with the Symphony Orchestra of India (SOI), under the conductorship of SOI’s resident conductor Piotr Borkowski, at the NCPA.
Growing up in an environment heavily influenced by music, Pratt says, “Almost all the games we played as children were musical. One such game involved my father playing a complicated melody on the piano and asking us to sing it back. My father is my first teacher. I owe much of my training in my formative years to him. I really had no say in the matter.” While she is deeply influenced by Australian soprano Joan Sutherland and the 1950s American operatic soprano Beverly Sills, Pratt relates most to American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald. “Jazz is my go-to music. It helps me relax,” says the soprano. Despite her love for the genre, Pratt never wants to sing it professionally. “Training for the opera is strenuous enough,” she says.
Pratt’s draw to opera has been its ability to induce empathy. “As a society, we are becoming increasingly isolated from each other,” she says. “It brings people together, allowing them to experience so many emotions. As a performer, you can feel the audience also holding their breath, waiting for you to hit the next note. It is fantastic to experience that.” Moreover, as a history buff, Pratt gets to experience different historical eras and portray lives she never lived.
Curiously enough, Pratt, who has been singing since the time she could say her first words, only began formal vocal training at age 19. Pratt’s father deemed it fit for her to first develop the correct breathing technique, a prerequisite for operatic singing. So, at age seven, Pratt began learning the trumpet until she started formal vocal lessons. “My father felt it would be better to start formal singing lessons only when my voice had fully developed,” she says. “Which is why I started training so late.”
After her father’s initial tutelage, Pratt studied for a year at the Sydney Conservatorium. Soon after, in 2004, Pratt had a six-month stint at the Rome Opera with Italian conductor and composer Gianluigi Gelmetti. From 2004 to 2007, Pratt studied under Italian soprano Renata Scotto at Rome’s Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and continues to perform in Scotto’s repertoire-style, which is the bel canto (an 18th century Italian vocal technique). Since 2008, Pratt has been training under American soprano Lella Cuberli in Milan, and still prepares for all her opera roles under her guidance. Pratt cites Cuberli’s influence in learning to be a coloratura soprano : a voice known for its swift runs, leaps, and trills.
Also, Pratt’s area of specialisation is the same as Cuberli’s, that is, in the works of renowned Italian composers Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti.
This evening, Pratt will perform her favourite role: Lucia, in Gaetano Donizetti’s tragedy Lucia di Lammermoor (1835). The opera chronicles the journey of a mentally unstable woman, Lucia, who murders her husband on their wedding night. She will also perform arias and scenes from Vincenzo Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi , Gioachino Rossini’s Semiramide , and Donizetti’s I Puritani , and Linda di Chamounix .
The other star of the evening, Borkowski, too was inspired by his father, composer Marian Borkowski, to take up music as a career. The conductor started his lessons with the piano at age 10 in Warsaw. Later, while at the department of conducting at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music, Warsaw, he studied under Polish composer Boguslaw Madey. “I took up conducting on the advice of my father, as he had also studied conducting and always wished to be a professional conductor,” says Borkowski. The 53-year-old looks to the music of Beethoven and Tchaikovsky for inspiration, and has been conducting noted orchestras around the world for almost three decades. In April 2015, he was appointed the SOI’s resident conductor. Since then, he divides his time between Poland and Mumbai.
Borkowski and Pratt share much in common: their fathers’ influence on their lives and a deep appreciation for jazz. What is left to be seen is the magic they will weave on stage, coming together for the first time.
Pratt will be performing with the SOI at Tata Theatre, NCPA, 7 pm onwards. Tickets between Rs. 200 and Rs. 300. Call 22824567/66223724 for details.
The writer is an intern with The Hindu
