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Tenor Stuart Skelton: ‘You have to take the audience to the edge of the abyss with you’

The Australian opera singer on five-hour Wagner marathons, the Last Night of the Proms – and why he smokes the occasional cigar

A lover of fast cars, cigars and cocktails, the Australian operatic tenor Stuart Skelton, 52, is one of the world’s most exciting singers, acclaimed for his epic Wagner roles and as a brilliant Peter Grimes in Britten’s opera, a role he will reprise in Munich next year, with Edward Gardner conducting. Resident in Florida, married to an Icelandic violinist, Skelton might be driven by adrenaline but he has enough patience to make a classic manhattan from scratch. He will star at the Last Night of the Proms with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sakari Oramo, next month.

Simon Rattle recently said he felt uneasy about the “jingoistic tendencies” of the Last Night of the Proms. Presumably you don’t share that feeling?
As a colonial kid growing up in Australia, I’ve always loved the Last Night – an internationally iconic event. I still do. Given the past 18 months, it’s a chance to enjoy the event for what it is – a wrap party for the biggest music festival on the planet. As for flag-waving, people love it or hate it, they do it or they don’t. I’m not here to judge. I’m just incredibly excited to be singing in this once-in-a-lifetime event. As an antipodean, it has to be high on my bucket list, and it’s a fantastic honour.

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from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2WuJwa4
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