Thoughtsofjustafan’s favourite soprano, Laura Wright, is currently wowing audiences on her first headline tour of the UK and fan and photographer, Nikki Lewis went along to two venues; here is her review.
Wow, & I’ll say it again .. WOW! I recently saw Laura Wright on tour and she sure stands up to the title ‘A Soprano with Strength’! This amazingly slender & stunning woman sings with the strength that she obviously has, not just for the music scene, but also in rugby and the fitness that she loves equally alongside her singing.
The first night of Laura’s 2015 tour I attended was at The Sage, Gateshead, where, with friends, I sat in awe of her beautiful warm tones and was enraptured in her performance. Laura performed around a dozen mesmerising songs from her albums, accompanied by an intimate trio of musicians. The songs ranged from the slightly more classical side with Holst and Handel, to the more modern Barber and the amazing Benedictus by Karl Jenkins, with a selection of those ol’ rugby favourites weaved in between – where there was audience participation! Laura looks so natural on stage and amazingly makes it all look effortless; believe me, that is a skill in itself! We all had a ‘mini’ workout with Laura too, which had most of the audience in stitches of laughter!
I was lucky enough to see Laura again, thanks to Kathryn Nash, in the beautiful setting of Union Chapel, London. This venue is almost the perfect setting for Laura, with the church acoustics and slightly sacred atmosphere. The audience greeted her with ‘whoops’, cheers and a couple of standing ovations throughout the evening. As before, Laura put on an amazing song-filled evening which captured everyone’s attention throughout!
Thanks Nikki for that great review – click here for more photos of Laura.
Laura was kind enough a few months ago to answer some questions about her career so far (Make Some Noise with Laura Wright) and she hinted then that music and sport would be married together on this tour. Little did I think that she meant active audience participation! She may be young, but Laura’s already wide ranging experience of touring with Alfie and Russell Watson have clearly paid off in learning stage craft – by the sounds of it, her audiences are putty in her hands.
Laura’s album, Sound of Strength, is available now:
Soprano Laura Wright is a firm favourite with readers of this blog – in fact, her rendition of Barcelona was voted into the top five of the Alfie Boe’s Favourite Duet poll. Come What May made the top ten as well.
Laura recently took part in the recording of Global Radio’s Make Some Noise charity single, Steadfast and took time out to answer a few questions about this and her new album, Sound of Strength, for thoughtsofjustafan – thanks Laura!
Q: What can you tell me about your involvement with Make Some Noise? A: I am recording a charity single with Classic FM, written by Howard Goodall to raise awareness of this amazing project to encourage young people to get involved in creating music but also helping to educate them on the music industry. Q. Have you been involved with any other ensemble charity recordings like this?
A: I have yes, I recorded the 2007 World Cup song World in Union with many other artists, when I was part of All Angels. I also recorded a version of The Prayer for a Christmas charity single as well with All Angels, however this will be my first solo involvement in a ensemble charity recording. Q: You are also an ambassador for Nordoff Robbins, have you had the chance to see their music therapy at work?
A: I have attended several therapy sessions and seen the work Nordoff Robbins do. My most recent visit was to a dementia care home. I began singing with some of the residents and suddenly they came to life, it was like seeing a glimpse of the person they used to be. Q: Are there any more marathons in the pipeline?
A: Not as of yet however we are planning an even bigger challenge, so you’ll have to wait and see. Q: Your Sound of Strength album has a really innovative sound – how did you come up with the idea?
A: It’s a reflection of myself really…fusing my two passions in life, sport and music. I wanted to do something that was inspiring, something new and innovative. I wanted the album to have excitement, beauty and to empower the listener. Q: And how did you pick Dr. Karageorghis to help you?
A: I had heard about some of his work with Dai Greene [World 400m hurdles champion, where he created a playlist to enhance the athlete’s performance. I wanted to back up my creative thoughts with something scientific and Dr. Karageorghis seemed the right choice to help sequence the album and show that music can enhance someone’s emotions. Q: Nessun Dorma was my favourite track, the first time I’ve heard a soprano sing this. What was the inspiration behind the choice?
A: A lot of the music on the album has been inspired by sporting moments. For me, one of the most powerful moments in sporting history when referring to music was when Nessun Dorma was sung by the three tenors for the football world cup. A perfect example of sport and music combining to create something extremely powerful. I wanted to recreate that moment but with a female voice and driving beats. My three elder brothers also feature on the track as backing vocalists. Q: Apart from Sound of Strength, what can audiences expect on your 2015 tour?
A: Of course I’ll be reflecting on my first two albums and performing some of the music recorded with the RPO and Anna Barry, along with some of my favourites from Glorious. As well as music from my latest album Sound of Strength… I want to create something very dramatic through sporting references. I aim to help bring the audience back to a point when these sporting moments took place, via the power of music. Q: As this is your first headline tour, what do you think will be the hardest / easiest things?
A: The hardest…to find a gym near every venue..haha! It’s always a challenge being away from home, but I look forward to my date in Ipswich when my family and friends will be coming. Q: Fans voted your Barcelona duet with Alfie Boe, in their top 5 Alfie Boe duets (Come What May made the top 10) – tell me how was it to sing that iconic song?
A: Wow! Thank you!! I was incredibly nervous about singing it, but so excited too! And to sing such a historically important song at a Freddie Mercury function with Alfie, was for me a very special moment! I remembering coming off stage on such a high…I think I had heat rash! Q: Any plans to sing with / record with Alfie again – Alfie Boe fans have a lot of love for you!
A: We recently performed World in Union together at Jonny Wilkinson’s Testimonial dinner which was so much fun. Alfie and I always have such fun on stage so whenever there is an opportunity to sing with him, I feel very lucky!
Well, Alfie’s fans also feel very lucky to be able to enjoy Alfie and Laura singing, here they are in 2012 singing Come What May:
Thanks Laura – hope to see you sing with Alfie again very soon!
Laura’s album, Sound of Strength, can be ordered now from Amazon:
thanks for reading and sharing!
if you like what you see, why not subscribe?
you get sneak peeks of upcoming posts, access to subsriber only posts and
Laura Wright was one of two singers (the other was Emilia Mitiku) to receive two nominations for your favourite duet with Alfie Boe. Indeed, both were nominated for Angel From Montgomery although neither ended up on the short list with it.
I first became aware of Laura through – well, if it’s on this blog, how else would I know her I can hear you all say! It’s no secret that I, along with many other fans, have been introduced to many others singers and genres of music by Alfie.
Although I wasn’t able to attend any of the Bring Him Home tour or the summer 2012 concerts that Laura performed at with Alfie, I fell in love with her voice by watching the many YouTube clips that are out there. At the time, it was hard to believe that she had yet to graduate from the Royal College of Music, so self assured did she seem. This may have been down to her previous incarnation as part of the female vocal group, All Angels.
Since then, Laura has gone from strength to strength, recording the official Diamond Jubilee song, Stronger As One as well as releasing her second solo album, The Rose. She has continued to perform in concert and I was lucky enough to see and hear her at the Huawei Winter Concert at the Royal Festival Hall in December 2013.
Fans of Laura will know that she is incredibly fit; most of her blog posts are about fitness and she was a natural choice to run the London Marathon for Nordoff Robbins, the music therapy charity of which she, like Alfie, is an ambassador. Unfortunately, in the (pardon the pun) run up to the 2013 event, Laura suffered an injury which meant she had to pull out. Thankfully, there was no such occurrence this year and she completed the 26 miles, stopping along the way to sing Jerusalem at Tower Bridge!
As if all this wasn’t enough, her brand new EP, Sound of Strength was released the next day. A bargain at under £2, the tracks showcase Laura’s beautiful voice to an accompaniment of drum and bass sampling. Some may not like this approach but it’s a great way to bring classical music to a new audience. The stand out track for me was Nessun Dorma, a song I’m far more used to listening to tenors sing! Click here to buy Laura’s music on Amazon.
Enjoy Laura and Alfie singing Barcelona – UK fans will also thrill to this on ITV Perspectives tonight – 10pm. Anyone going to be watching???
thanks for reading
if you like what you see, why not subscribe?
sneak peeks of future posts and Alfie photos will find their way into your inbox xxx
