KEY POINTS:
For a time it seemed New Zealand singer Anna Leese was the golden girl of the competition circuit, taking major prizes on both sides of the Tasman.
"Competitions are so different from working in the industry," says the London-based soprano. "Now there is so much camaraderie. Everybody wants each other to do well. Anyway, in reality, it's not necessarily the competition winners who make the best careers."
Leese's own career is extremely healthy at the moment. The soprano is touring the country for Chamber Music New Zealand with a new CD to sell after the shows. Three nights ago, she played Vector Arena alongside heart-throb tenor Andrea Bocelli.
But where does she see her career settling? Mozart, Strauss and Puccini are the preferred composers at the moment.
"I enjoy the freedom that Puccini gives to the upper register," she says, "although I don't think I'll ever be a Madam Butterfly or Tosca. Mimi's off the list too. She's a bit flaky compared to Musetta," Leese laughs. "I've got Musetta under my belt already. She is more of a real woman and made of stronger stuff than Mimi."
When Leese takes the Town Hall stage with pianist Terence Dennis on Monday, her only operatic concession is two Puccini arias. Apart from that, the programme is Lieder and songs all the way. Strauss' Brentano Lieder is the ultimate challenge of the evening.
Such repertoire gives precious insights into the poetry being set. Two songs from Britten's On This Island to texts by W.H. Auden are "such a window on what it was like to live in England back in the 1930s as a gay man".
On This Island isn't the only English offering on Monday. Leese and Dennis also include two Haydn Canzonets, some Walton settings of Edith Sitwell and two songs by Purcell.
"The Purcell sits well at the beginning of the evening," Leese explains.
"They ask for a thinner, brighter and higher sound than what comes later. And," she laughs, "expect a bit of spontaneous decoration here and there."
Yet it is the Seven Spanish Folksongs of Falla on the disc that lingers in the memory, with Leese using some bold chest voice and coming up with some chilling Iberian wails.
"It's gorgeous music," she says. "But I don't feel very Spanish singing them, just like I wouldn't feel Maori if I sang a waiata. It is like you're more of a storyteller than a character. That kind of singing is not my first nature. My first calling is to be classical, very straight and narrow. I am quite a formal sort of girl."
When I spoke to Leese, her Bocelli gig was still to come and I sensed a certain cautiousness over the concert duet Time to Say Goodbye.
"That wouldn't appear in a programme of my own, possibly ever, but every other song is an aria or a pure opera duet. I am not compromising my technique."
Nevertheless, cross-over, it seems, is here to stay. "It's a chance to please the people who are paying for the opera houses, as well as the sponsors and even organisers. Heavily funded careers like mine don't support themselves. And I'd rather do something that's enjoyed by the majority of people than just a handful."
ANNA LEESE
Born: March 7, 1981
Winner: 2001 Dame Sister Mary Leo Scholarship. 2002 Mobil Song Quest.
Studies include: Royal College of Music in London & the Benjamin Britten International Opera School.
Did you know?: The Anna Leese Rose, bred by Tom Carruth, of Weeks Roses, California, was released on Thursday. It has orange red blooms suffused with apricot yellow.
PERFORMANCE
Who: Anna Leese and Terence Dennis
Where and when: Auckland Town Hall, Monday 8pm
On disc: Anna Leese, Debut Recital (EMI Classics 2076392)
