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IN TOWN THIS MONTH: OPERA<br />
Addicted to bass<br />
Velvet-voiced Christopher Purves returns to Glyndebourne<br />
“Where’s home?”, I ask baritone Christopher<br />
Purves as we sit in the gardens at Glyndebourne.<br />
He’s taking a break from rehearsals for The Cunning<br />
Little Vixen, an opera that weaves love stories<br />
around a forester and a fox. “Apparently it’s in<br />
Oxford”, he laughs. “I’ll be back home Saturday<br />
afternoon and then back here on Sunday evening,<br />
very late. So I get a day and a half at home, which<br />
is not enough but that’s just the way it goes.<br />
We’re relatively used to it.” These days Christopher<br />
sings his way around the world, staying in<br />
temporary accommodation when performing in<br />
Europe, the United States and Australia. “When<br />
the kids were small I would not go abroad, just<br />
because I thought ‘this is ludicrous, not being<br />
able to see them at all’. I couldn’t think of a good<br />
enough reason to ruin my life so completely.”<br />
It’s now 20 years since Christopher first came to<br />
Glyndebourne as an understudy, before returning<br />
to perform in 2007, 2009 and, in a ‘truly fearsome<br />
and mesmerising performance’, according to Opera<br />
Today, the title role in Handel’s Saul last year.<br />
“It’s a wonderful thing to have your so-called art<br />
appreciated to such an extent”, he admits. “It was<br />
the best fun I’ve ever had.”<br />
Christopher Purves has been singing since<br />
childhood. “I’m the youngest of four boys in the<br />
family. I think I had to fight for attention.” As a<br />
youngster, he was a chorister at King’s College,<br />
Cambridge. In his 20s, he spent several years as<br />
part of doo-wop band Harvey and the Wallbangers<br />
before heading into opera. But where does the<br />
acting come from? “I’ve got no idea”, he tells me.<br />
“If you talk to anyone and ask them what they’re<br />
doing, they’ll try and explain it to you in ways<br />
you can understand. I think opera is precisely<br />
that. We’re given scenarios that are rather weird<br />
and we have to explain them. It’s an extreme version<br />
of talking.”<br />
His role as the Forester in The Cunning Little<br />
Vixen is “quite a soulful man”, Christopher says.<br />
“He’s not sad, he’s not desperately happy, but<br />
he’s normal. I think a lot of people can understand<br />
where his life is going. It’s very touchingly<br />
human.” And the internationally travelled singer<br />
who portrays him is equally down-to-earth. “I<br />
love being at home. It’s an extraordinary thing<br />
but it’s true. I can take my dog for a walk, I can<br />
cook an evening meal, I can spend time talking<br />
to my sons – my daughter is away at the moment<br />
– you know, just normal life that people take for<br />
granted. For me it’s such a blessing. But I still<br />
enjoy the buzz; I still enjoy the excitement of<br />
starting up a new rehearsal period for a new opera.<br />
So, I think while that excitement still exists, I<br />
will carry on.” Mark Bridge<br />
Glyndebourne Festival <strong>2016</strong> runs until late August.<br />
The Cunning Little Vixen opens on Sunday 12th<br />
<strong>June</strong>. glyndebourne.com<br />
Photo by Bill Cooper<br />
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