In Less Than Five Minutes, Get To Know – Soprano Jade Phoenix

By Alan Neilson

(Photo: Clive Barda)

Jade Phoenix was one of the first students to pass through Wexford Festival Opera’s Factory, a learning program for young singers starting out in their careers. As part of the course, she performed on the festival’s main stage in the role of Giuliette in Bellini’s “I Capuletti e i Montecchi.” Such was the strength of her interpretation that she has been invited back for this year’s festival to perform the role of Ariele from Halvéy’s “La Tempesta.”

OperaWire: What was the first opera you ever attended?

Jade Phoenix: I was 18 on holiday in Barcelona. It was “Die Zauberflöte” at the Liceu. 

OW: What was the last opera in which you appeared?

JP: Handel’s “Semele” in Dublin.

OW: What is the next opera in which you are scheduled to perform?

JP: I am appearing in a contemporary opera by Evangelia Rigaki and Marina Carr called “Old Ghosts” for Irish National Opera.

OW: Who is your favorite opera composer?

JP: Puccini.

OW: Which role would you most like to sing?

JP: Mimi.

OW: Which opera character would you like to meet in person?

JP: Alice from Verdi’s “Falstaff.”

OW: If you could exchange places with any character, who would it be?

JP: Ariele from “La Tempesta.” It would be good fun.

OW: Name the person, from any walk of life, who has most influenced your career. 

JP: Mary Brennan. She was my first singing teacher and I studied for my degree with her.

OW: What is your favorite piece of non-operatic music?

JP: “Candy” by Poalo Nutini.

OW: Who is your favorite singer?

JP: It changes from month to month, but at the moment it is Lisette Oropesa. 

OW: If you weren’t a singer, what career would you have liked to have pursued?

JP: A nurse or a carer.

OW: If you could have any composer, living or dead, write an opera for you in the starring role, who would it be?

JP: Verdi.

OW: What do you like most about your voice?

JP: I like that is has a dark color and that it not too bright. It has a bit of meat to it.

OW: If you could invite three guests to dinner, one of whom must be an opera character, who would they be?

JP: Freddie Mercury, Violetta and Ru Paul. 

OW: What was the last book you read?

JP: “A Hundred Years Of Solitude” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

OW: What is your favorite film? 

JP: “It’s a Wonderful Life”

OW: Who is your favorite painter?

JP: Degas.

OW: What do you dislike most about being an opera singer?

JP: The amount of self-criticism. I think opera singers are their own worst critics.

OW: What do you like most about being an opera singer? 

JP: Performing

OW: Two adjectives you would use to describe your time at the Wexford Festival Opera.

JP: Exhilarating and hard working.

OW: In which opera house would you most like to sing, but have so far not had the opportunity? 

JP: Definitely Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu. It is where it all started for me.

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