Category Archives: Opera

Alfie Boe to Star in Another Broadway Show?

Fans have been speculating about what Alfie will do after he leaves Les Mis at the end of February and aside from Alfie Boe Live from Scarborough in June, the ideas generated so far have been centred around tours and albums.  Today, however, it seems as if Alfie may go into a different Broadway show which will see him in New York until August!  Alfie’s management have not been able to confirm this as yet so once more we wait and see.  As ‘soon’ as more news becomes available, you’ll be the first to know.

This startling piece of news comes to us from Alfie himself via a podcast from Clint Boon on iTunes.

Alfie and Clint Boon worked together many moons ago with The Clint Boon Experience and the albums that Alfie features on are available here.  Always fun to hear about ‘behind the scenes’ on recordings – as Alfie mentions in his book, the first time he heard himself on the radio was as Opera Dude on a Clint Boon Experience single. Interesting chat about a possible future collaboration too – bring it on!

Alfie’s autobiography, My Story, is available here:

alfie autobio

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Alfie Boe 2nd Annual Best Ever Song: 6 Down to 4

Last week saw the publication of the top ten in the second annual poll to find the best ever Alfie Boe song and we are now counting down, this week arriving at numbers six to four.  Click here to see numbers ten to seven.

Number six is an old staple of Alfie’s operatic repertoire and one that he began singing again on his 2014 UK Winter tour, much to the surprise and delight of most of the fans.  Yes, I’m talking about Nessun Dorma, one of the most famous tenor arias out there and one which seeped into popular culture like no other aria following the 1990 World Cup (if you have to ask which sport, you’re obviously not from these parts!).  Alfie has named Giuseppe di Stefano as one of his favourite tenors to listen to, so I picked his version to show you:

The popular version is of course by Luciano Pavarotti but everyone who is anyone has performed the song which comes from Puccini’s 1924 opera Turandot.  The aria is sung by Calaf (the unknown prince)  who falls in love with Princess Turandot.  If he wishes to marry her, Calaf must answer three riddles correctly or face execution.  He does so but as Turandot is still not keen on marriage, he gives her a reprieve; guess his name before dawn and she can execute him, fail and she has to marry him.  Turandot then decrees that ‘no one shall sleep’ that night until they discover the name.  Reading this again, is it any wonder that quite a number of people have problems with operatic plots?!  I confess that despite loving Alfie’s version, Nessun Dorma is not my favourite operatic aria but this video will brighten up any day:

Number five in the countdown is the third survivor from the 2014 poll and the first from Onward.  Click here to find out more about A Living Prayer.

Having seen numbers five and six, that brings us to the biggest shock of the 2015 vote…number four is last year’s number one, Bring Him Home!  Be honest, how many of you saw that coming?  Not only is it not number one, it’s not even in the top three!  For me, this is good news as it means that many more fans are getting to know and appreciate the vast depth of Alfie’s recorded repertoire.  As wonderful as Alfie’s Bring Him Home is, and it will always be his signature tune, there are so many more choices available, many of which do a better job of showcasing his voice.  Click here to check them out.   Likewise, as fabulous as it always is to hear Alfie on the radio, show presenters and producers should make the effort to play more than just the obvious.

And so now you’ve got over the big surprise, who will be number one?  The top three are Addio Sogni Di Gloria, Keep Me In Your Heart and A Gaelic Blessing – the correct order will be revealed next week!

Bring Him Home is available here.

 

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Alfie Boe 2nd Annual Best Ever Song Poll: The Top Ten!

The poll has now closed but I can now reveal the top ten in the second annual Alfie Boe Best Ever Song vote! As you can see, the results are very different from last year:

  • You Are My Heart’s Delight
  • Wayfaring Stranger
  • Parlami D’Amore Mariu
  • Bring Him Home
  • A Living Prayer
  • Rosie
  • If You Go Away
  • Fratello Sole, Sorella Luna
  • Rank Strangers
  • Je Crois Entendre Encore

And no, it’s not in the right order!

In 2014, the top ten looked like this:

 

  1. Bring Him Home
  2. A Living Prayer
  3. Rank Strangers
  4. Je Crois Entendre Encore
  5. Wayfaring Stranger
  6. Parlami D’Amore Mariu
  7. Rosie
  8. If You Go Away
  9. Fratello Sole, Sorella Luna
  10. You Are My Heart’s Delight

Of this original top ten, only four songs survive and they happen to be the top four – but will they be the top four this time?  You’ll have to wait and see…we’ll be counting down from Friday.

Looking at the albums represented this year, the make up has significantly changed from 2014; then, all the albums bar one had a song in the top ten but this year, only six of his nine albums have an entry.  Serenata, Trust, Onward and Classic FM Presents all have two top ten entries whilst Bring Him Home and Storyteller have one each.  Trust, named as the most owned Alfie album in an earlier poll, had two songs in 2014 as well but they aren’t the same as this year! Once again, classical and rock Alfie are showing as the most popular genres with Bring Him Home remaining the only musical theatre selection on the list.

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Alfie Boe’s Proms

Last Night of the Proms is a British Institution and more recently, that has included Proms in the Park.  The finale of the Last Night is always the patriotic fervour of Rule Britannia, Pomp and Circumstance et al and is guaranteed to get the crowd singing along enthusiastically (depending on whether we know the words!).  This repertoire will have been bread and butter to Alfie as an aspiring and jobbing operatic tenor so he would have no trouble in remembering the words!

I have fairly often watched the second half of Last Night of the Proms on TV throughout my life and enjoyed it but never thought to attend Proms in the Park despite living just down the road from the London venue.  All that changed in 2012 when I first fell into the world of Alfie Boe and got a ticket to see Alfie at the London Proms in the Park.  I had met the ever lovely Linda W (not forgetting Alfie!) the week before at the Bluewater book signing and spent a delightful day with her in Hyde Park before the music started.

Since then, Alfie has appeared twice more at Proms in the Park (Glasgow and Belfast) and a furious evening of TV channel hopping and online surfing has duly commenced for me and every other UK fan sitting at home; I well remember the fury expressed when the BBC cut Alfie off in 2014 and then failed to show much of his set in the highlights!

Going further back, Alfie’s first recorded Proms in the Park was Swansea and of course, he appeared with Michael Ball in the Proms proper in 2008.  Hopefully, Alfie will appear in many more Proms in the Park’s in years to come – until then we’ll have to content ourselves with his past performances, now in a playlist:

My favourite videos from this list are the bookend performances: Swansea and Belfast.  I adore Alfie’s operatic performances, particularly Brindisi so it was wonderful to hear La Donna e Mobile in Belfast last year whilst also hearing the beauty of Serenata.  I suppose it depends on where you stand in the classical Alfie vs. rock Alfie discussion as to which your favourite is – but do leave a comment and tell me.

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On This Day, 27 August 2007, Alfie Boe Sang…

…with Michael Ball at his Musicals Prom at the Royal Albert Hall.  Alfie and Michael had recently struck up a friendship after appearing together in the ENO production of Kismet.  As anyone who has seen / heard Michael talk about this production and / or read Alfie’s book, My Story will know, Kismet was not a particularly happy experience for all concerned.  As mentioned in an earlier On This Day post, Alfie almost leapt into the public’s consciousness with an appearance on Michael Parkinson’s chat show but as with so many other things it became yet another ‘nearly’ moment.

However, all was not lost as the burgeoning friendship between Alfie and Michael led to Alfie’s guest slot at the Prom – as far as I know his only appearance at the Proms proper (rather than Proms in the Park).

Michael is not a classically trained singer but he makes a lovely job of duetting with Alfie.  And if you want to hear what Michael had to say about ENO and Kismet, here is him talking on the Jonathan Ross show in 2007 (the Kismet talk starts about 7.15):

Wouldn’t it be lovely to hear Michael and Alfie sing together again?

Alfie’s My Story is available here (the ‘winter’ cover is also available):

alfie autobio

 

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On This Day, 19 April 2007, Alfie Boe Sang…

…at Music Of Morse, shown on ITV.  The two songs are E Lucevan E Stelle and Brindisi, with Lesley Garrett.  There are several Brindisi duets on the Alfie Boe youtube page but this is my favourite, largely due to the twinkle in Lesley Garrett’s eye – she very nearly succeeds in making Alfie laugh out loud during his first line!

I still cherish hopes of hearing some of this repertoire in person one day!

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How Alfie Boe is Changing Our Musical Tastes

Just over a week ago I posted about the music that Alfie Boe has introduced me to and how my musical tastes have changed.  I then asked you to tell me how Alfie has educated you musically and you have responded enthusiastically!  A wide range of musical tastes and choices were talked about and interestingly, it’s not just new music that we are spending our money on.  Alfie has changed our musical horizons so much that we are as likely to go to a concert by a new artist or a theatrical production as we are to buy a new album which costs a fraction of the price.  Most of us are also just as likely to go alone to these concerts and shows, having never thought of doing so before.

As we already know, most fans first came to be an Alfie fan through Les Mis and were already listening to music from musicals; some were even lucky enough to be at the O2 in 2010! Some however, were not into musicals at all and have since become immersed in that world as a result.  Alfie’s first two Decca albums in particular are rich with musical numbers and seem to have inspired a lot of fans to revisit those tunes and shows.  Blues and swing, following Alfie’s most recent albums, have also been re-introduced to many of your music collections.

Again, most fans had some affinity with light classical music before Alfie but have become much keener once they discovered Alfie’s rich back catalogue of classical music and opera.  I think that most of us can say that we know a whole lot more about opera than we did before we heard Alfie, whether that means re-learning what we once knew or coming to it from a blank canvas.  La Boheme was mentioned several times as a favourite opera, probably because Alfie has played Rodolfo a few times and we can watch him on DVD whenever we want – that also means that we know the words when we go to see that same production at the Coliseum with ENO!

In my original post, I mentioned the likes of Led Zeppelin, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, The Clint Boon Experience as artists who I had come to listen to through Alfie and who I would never have listened to before.  I think I can safely say that having looked at all your responses, I am not alone in that view – Led Zeppelin and The Who were the top two artists that are being discovered or revisited.  I’m sure that we’ll all be Who / Quadrophenia experts by the time 5th July has come around.

Lastly, Laura Wright, John Owen-Jones and Michael Boe were the top three new artists that you told me about; singers who it is unlikely that you would have heard about and become fans of, without Alfie.  Emilia Mitiku and Warren Zevon were other names mentioned – Alfie recorded Zevon’s Keep Me In Your Heart on Trust (it’s the one with the buttons on your blouse, so careful now!):

The comment that came over most often, however, was how much you are all enjoying Alfie’s musical journey – one reason being that we have no idea which way he’ll go next!  One thing’s for sure – it won’t be what we expect!

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Alfie Boe and the D’Oyly Carte

Who can name the song that Alfie Boe sang at his first ever professional audition?  Of course, you all can – Lehar’s You Are My Heart’s Delight for the D’oyly Carte!  The reason I’m asking you this is that I recently had the pleasure of interviewing David Steadman who was the Principal Conductor when Alfie auditioned.  Although David was not present at that first audition, he clearly remembers the director, John Owen Edwards, telling him that he had found “a fantastic tenor from Blackpool”.  Edwards later conducted our current Alfie Boe album of the month, Onward.

As we all know, Alfie was offered a part in the chorus for the tour of HMS Pinafore and as the saying goes, never looked back.  David Steadman remembers him very well from his time conducting that tour, saying that everyone in the company from the other chorus members to the orchestra, loved Alfie.  According to David, Alfie was clearly destined for great things in the music world as he had such a natural voice that came from the heart but also, crucially, he worked hard, always learnt his music and was such a lovely person.  The thing that endeared him most to everyone was that he had no idea how good he was but he took to it like a duck to water, never seeming to struggle with harmonies, always being note perfect.  The effect on the rest of the tenors in the chorus was to galvanize them to come up to the standard that Alfie was setting.  However, Alfie still clearly stood out as evidenced by a conductor from the Birmingham Bach Society who happened to see the show and afterwards mentioned to David that there was an “exceptional tenor in the chorus”.  Alfie later went on to play a leading part in the D’Oyly Carte’s recording of HMS Pinafore.

David went on to describe the effect Alfie’s voice had on a London audience for the first time; singing two or three arias at the Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, Alfie absolutely brought the house down.  A similar experience was had at a New Year’s Eve concert in Blackpool where David conducted the National Concert Orchestra.  Alongside a couple of D’Oyly Carte soloists, Alfie also performed with his brother Michael, in front of what seemed to David like the whole Boe family in the front stalls!

Alfie himself is very thankful to the D’Oyly Carte for giving him his first chance in the music world, as seen in this quote from his autobiography, My Story:

…If you had the ability to sing, the D’Oyly Carte gave you the opportunity regardless, and that’s priceless.  They did a lot for me.

In recent years, the company has been dormant with no productions between 2003 and 2013 but there is shortly to be a forthcoming production, in collaboration with Scottish Opera, of the Mikado.  This was preceded by a successful joint production of the Pirates of Penzance in 2013.  David himself is Music Director of the D’Oyly Carte Opera Trust and is currently conducting the UK touring production of the Sound of Music, having previously worked for several years with the Really Useful Group and Bill Kenwright.

All this may sound enough to be getting on with but David is also presently engaged in writing and organising a D’Oyly Carte recipe book!  Featuring handwritten contributions from company members going right back to the 1920’s, the book was passed to David a few years ago and that was that until he had the idea of publishing a recipe book to raise money for CLIC Sargent, a leading charity for children with cancer.  Sir Malcolm Sargent was at one time, Principal Conductor with the D’Oyly Carte.

David is clearly very proud of Alfie’s achievements in his career so far and says he was saddened to read Alfie’s book and learn of his subsequent struggles within the wider opera world as he and everyone else at the D’Oyly Carte are so proud of his career.  When they last spoke, Alfie was still the same down to earth man he was when he first met him, confessing to feeling “amazed” at how things have gone for him.  For his part, David says that it was “entirely the good fortune of the D’Oyly Carte” to have had Alfie in the company.

Alfie’s album Onward and the recording of HMS Pinafore are available now:

Alfie onward

HMS Pinafore

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February Album of the Month: Love Was A Dream

It must be fate – I was thinking about a new series of blog posts based on each of Alfie’s albums and decided to start with Love Was A Dream to coincide with Valentine’s Day (such a romantic album!).  The fate bit came in when I discovered that this album has just entered the top ten classical album chart – way to go Alfie!  It is currently at number 4, ahead of Serenata at 6 and You’ll Never Walk Alone at 7.

In the recent thoughtsofjustafan survey into how fans found Alfie I found that Love Was A Dream was the least owned Alfie album (69% of respondents owned it).  I’m not really sure why this is although one reason could be that it was released before Alfie became widely known through Les Mis; additionally, the album was released on an independent label which nearly always makes it harder to achieve mainstream success.  Rebecca Newman’s recent classical chart topper, Dare To Dream, was highly unusual in making it to the top of the classical charts without the backing of a major record label.

From Alfie’s autobiography, My Story, you really understand the depth of feeling he has for Franz Lehar and for Love Was A Dream.  The opportunity to make the album came at a low point in Alfie’s professional life and clearly has an emotional connection for him, not least because Lehar was a favourite of his father. Alfie says:

That album has a real sentimental feel for me – vocally and emotionally and even technically….It was a really warm experience…one of my favourite albums I’ve done, certainly the most personal.

Anyone familiar with Alfie’s story knows that Lehar’s music is a personal favourite for him and his father, Alfred.  As well as singing You Are My Heart’s Delight (track 5) for his first D’oyly Carte audition, Alfie spent many a  Sunday lunchtime in the Boe household  listening to Alf senior’s music and Alfie  says that Richard Tauber was one of his father’s favourite singers.  Tauber became particularly well known for singing the song; indeed it comes from a 1929 operetta, The Land of Smiles, written for his voice by Lehar.  Here’s Alfie at the 2012 Proms in the Park:

This is also a fan favourite, making the top ten in last year’s Alfie Boe Best Ever Song poll.

The remainder of the tracks (click here to see the complete list) are taken from other Lehar operettas dating from 1905-1934.  Tracks 2 and 9 are from The Merry Widow (1905), an operetta that Alfie performed in with ENO in 2009 although Vilia (track 2) is sung by the Merry Widow herself.  Track 12 (Farewell, My Love Farewell) was the song that made Richard Tauber a star in 1922 and he then went onto originate a number of roles for Lehar  – the rest of the track list comprises songs that were created for Tauber’s voice.

Love Was A Dream is, for me, the perfect album for Alfie’s voice and my favourite classical album.  For me, it’s a much more romantic album than his recently released Serenata, which was promoted as his most romantic album yet (of the Decca albums, yes).  So, if you’re stuck for a Valentine’s gift, or just want to treat yourself, Love Was A Dream would fit the bill perfectly.  To order, click on the album cover:

love was a dream

Alfie’s autiobiography, My Story, is also available:

alfie autobio

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Friday Round Up with Alfie Boe: No. 8

Banish the winter blues – two new dates for Alfie Boe’s 2015 concerts have been announced this week!

Alfie will first headline the Utah Stars and Friends benefit concert on 14 March, joining other Utah based musicians such as Lexi Walker, We Are The Strike and the One Voice Children’s Choir. Click here for tickets.

Announced the same day, Alfie will return to the Llangollen Eistedfodd on 9 July.  In contrast to his previous two visits, Alfie will be singing at a dedicated musical theatre evening and will be joined by Sophie Evans (runner up in TV’s Over The Rainbow), saxophonist Amy Dickson and fellow tenor Jonathan Antoine.  Festival Director Eilir Owen Griffiths said

I’m thrilled Alfie Boe has agreed to headline what will be an absolutely fantastic evening concert. Alfie’s unforgettable West End performances as Jean Valjean in Les Miserables were critically acclaimed and rightly so.  This isn’t his first appearance at Llangollen of course and audiences have always responded to him, he is definitely a firm favourite. But this will be the first time we have had a concert which will specifically celebrate musical theatre and movie themes. It will be a wonderful night and one not to be missed.

Alfie’s previous two appearances at Llangollen could not have been more different; in black tie in 2008 to sing the Pearl Fishers duet with David Kempster and then in 2012 his appearance was in keeping with his repertoire of that summer tour – more Elvis than opera!

Tickets for Llangollen will be on sale in February so if you don’t want to miss out, don’t forget to sign up for emails.  Until then, click here for the festival website.

My next interview is with the youngest ever JVJ – and a good friend of Alfie – John Owen Jones – it will be out next week.

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