How to Survive in an Opera Chorus

“It’s Auschwitz to Iowa, all in one day,” says Judith Douglas. “And people who come to performances have been known to ask me afterwards what I do with the rest of my time!” Douglas, a mezzo-soprano, has been in the ENO Chorus since 1983, which means that she has sung music ranging from Handel to Glass, Mozart to Britten, Verdi to Shostakovich, in many different English translations (and memorably on one occasion in Sanskrit), under the auspices of numerous conductors and directors, wearing a dizzying array of costumes from corsets, crinolines and gym slips to fake animal pelts.

 

Once the chorus is on stage in the final phase of rehearsal, a fine balance needs to be struck between the demands of the production and those of the music. Burke compares himself to a sports coach at this point: “I have to keep them fit and up to the mark at the same time as being acutely aware of what the director’s doing. Crashing in with a musical note at the wrong moment could be entirely counterproductive. I have to get my timing just right.”

While the strength of a chorus is in its numbers, it can be dispiriting to be lumped together as a group. Director Francesca Zambello asked for photographs of every chorus member before she worked at ENO so that on the first day of rehearsal she knew every person’s name. “You can’t help but be impressed,” says Douglas. “It’s amazingly morale-boosting to deal with someone who makes such an effort.”