Sarah Parkin shares her top five unexpected insights

We recently caught up with award winning Canadian soprano Sarah Parkin, who received a Foundation seed grant last year when she competed in The Eckhardt-Grammaté National Music Competition, Brandon University’s nationally renowned competition for the promotion of Canadian contemporary works. Winner of the National English Song Competition, Sarah specialises in new music and contemporary opera. We talked to her about developing her career and her advice to younger students, and we share her top five insights on being a Canadian musician in London.

British yes, but London may also have a French soul
Surprisingly, there are many more opportunities to hear conversational French in London than in Toronto! In fact, I’ve heard it debated that London is “France’s sixth biggest city!” Perhaps my most Canadian attribute is being an anglophone who speaks fluent French, a result of both early French Immersion schooling and my undergraduate degree at U of T. There is a significant niche here in classical singing as a French Lyric Diction coach - teaching pronunciation, style and how to shape your mouth to achieve a more authentic French sound - and this is something I increasingly enjoy working on.

Explore! A gap year won’t kill your career
Take your time and explore as much as possible! Everything you study, even from a young age, may become extremely useful down the line - performers have increasingly varied skill sets which can be applied almost anywhere. There is no one path for any singer to follow, so if your instinct is to train in another field, or take a gap year or go travelling, then go! There will always be a time when these life experiences can inform your art.

A tough COVID journey has had a silver lining
We’ve all found hidden reserves of strength which help us to be as innovative as possible. There are so many companies and colleagues now doing inclusive online programming; but the most inspirational movements have been towards advocacy and mental health projects, demonstrating how important community is.

Over lockdown, I’ve been particularly inspired by the work of Canadian tenor Zach Finkelstein through his blog, The Middleclass Artist; as well as the new artist collective at i:Opera, who are both openly advocating for equality in the opera and classical music industry. A particular highlight for me was participating in Vopera’s first entirely digital production - a company dedicated to keeping singers working during the pandemic, while offering 24-hour mental health support. Finally, there are many organisations committed to getting artists back to work, such as the Bishopsgate Institute, Opera Holland Park (especially through their award-winning Inspire program), and the Tête-à-Tête Opera Festival who all carried off impressive COVID-secure performances and live-streams throughout the past year. Their efforts to galvanise the community have gone a long way during a particularly tough period.

There are so many companies and colleagues now doing inclusive online programming; but the most inspirational movements have been towards advocacy and mental health projects, demonstrating how important community is.

The Canadian music teaching system has some unique advantages
My experience growing up in Ontario is that bands are central to music education. I spent six years playing trumpet in elementary and high school, but most of all I developed ensemble skills (playing in a section, following a conductor, rehearsal time management, etc). We were also privileged enough to attend regular band camps, European concert tours and choir retreats. The instruments I specialised in (piano and voice) were studied privately, outside of school. The teaching quality is standardised: every full-time music teacher is trained as a conductor and learns how to play all band instruments before attending Teachers’ College, to be able to accommodate for all students.

My teaching and outreach work in the UK has shown the same ensemble programs are accessible here - there are many fantastic children’s choirs and orchestras, amateur opera companies and brass bands as well as opera companies doing wonderful outreach work - but these programs mainly exist as extracurriculars. Music studied at school to qualification level focuses on tangible assets of the individual musician, as it is easier to grade. It is normal for schools with a Music Department to have the capacity for visiting music teachers to give weekly private lessons, which contributes significantly to the income of freelance musicians; and creates an atmosphere where enterprising students can play in different types of ensembles/sing in different styles of choir while being supported by the school (borough and funding dependent). Music education is therefore left up to the individual schools and Music Departments, placing the focus more on individuality; while the Canadian system prioritises music as a performance practice, giving students more scope for growth in an ensemble.

We may never go back fully to big audiences and live performances
Musicians everywhere have adapted to socially distanced live-streamed performances, so nearly every project is in a stage of conversion, perhaps even despite the easing of restrictions.

As for what's next for me, in February 2021, Divine Art Recordings released our album on its Métier Label, one of the foremost labels for contemporary music. My next project is an operatic art film of Amy Bryce’s opera ‘The Kinder Society’, written during her residency with the Stiftung Kunst und Musik für Dresden 2019. Long-term, I am working with Icelandic accordionist Jónas Ásgeir Ásgeirsson to create a contemporary recital for soprano and accordion, exploring the cultural links between Canada and Iceland.

Canadian artist Allison Katz’s first UK institutional solo show opens next week at Nottingham Contemporary

This week we share an exhibition of Allison Katz's works on paper titled While life is in your body, you have the rein of all thoughts in your hands, which can be viewed online at Luhring Augustine gallery until 29 May. With accompanying texts by Katz, the online offering highlights the wordplay and wit of this Montreal-born London-based artist. Vivid colours and varied styles make for a fascinating viewing.

Of her exhibition at Nottingham Contemporary, titled Artery, Katz has said, “I want to emphasise the non-order of things, from inside to out.” The focus on connective networks and changing perspective will explore these spaces between inside and outside, you and me, experience and image.

The artwork (created over the past year) at the heart of the exhibition ask questions related to communication and connection, of intimacy without touching. Even the physical layout of the exhibition at Nottingham Contemporary will be installed in a unique way: along and behind a series of angled walls, apertures, and peepholes. The exhibition certainly sounds like an intriguing must-see

Taking a different form with new works, the show will travel to Camden Art Centre in London in January 2022 (her first institutional solo show in London) and be accompanied by a publication.

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