Vocal supporter of opera's beauty

By WILLIAM DART

When Kiri Te Kanawa singled out Sally Sloman for special commendation during the Dame's recent Gala Concert, Sloman wasn't in the audience. Predictably, she was backstage marshalling her young singers who provided so many unforgettable moments during the evening.

Taranaki-bred Sloman was bitten by the opera bug when the old New Zealand Opera Company toured the provinces in the 1950s. "Eltham Town Hall was like a Viennese opera house," she enthuses, "and it was such a thrill when the divas came to town."

In Auckland, she became one of Sister Mary Leo's girls.

"They used to call me the Taranaki nightingale," she remembers, with a self-effacing laugh, "and at that stage Kiri and Malvina weren't doing the high stuff. I heard Donna Awatere singing Softly Awakes My Heart one day and so wanted to do that but Sister said, 'Don't be silly, dear, that would be like Donna doing The Bell Song'."

Now a teacher herself, Sloman still works from the training books Sister Mary Leo bequeathed her. She remembers the shrewd psychological ploys. "She'd put nonsense words to a complex run, or tell you to bend down and pick those keys off the floor when you're not getting a particular note. Today young singers move too quickly into the technical. They're more likely to know how fast their glottis has to wobble."

Sloman practised her craft by singing with Perkel Opera for 12 years, joining Cyril Kelleway and Paul Person's company when it started in 1974. "Back then, there wasn't a lot happening for singers. We were losing touch with each other, and then suddenly this Barber of Seville came along and it was simply hilarious, the first opera we'd seen for ages, with wonderful singing by Louise Malloy and Paul Person."

Sloman was Susanna in Perkel's next production of Figaro and went on to become the company's principal soprano soubrette, although her duties were not only vocal. "We would leave Auckland and play Te Kuiti on Friday night. Saturday matinee was Te Awamutu, Saturday night Putaruru, and then there would be a Sunday matinee at Rotorua. It certainly sorted out the pixies. Any soprano who couldn't shift a flat, iron costumes and be up the lighting ladder at five to eight wasn't employed."

Sloman's Susanna was sharply characterised and elegantly sung; and she created many fine roles, including one of the perkiest Adeles for Perkel's first effort at Der Fledermaus.

Perkel took opera to the people. "Young people today have never heard an acoustic singer," laments Sloman. "Where can you go to hear Morgen sung like Kiri did the other night?"

Television has much to answer for. Sloman rails against the young having "too much visual distraction" and the way youngsters often "lack natural acting ability".

"We're not harvesting the natural talent of young Polynesians. They've got such a fabulous tone, whereas the European New Zealander is not so forthright. Above all, the young singers must sing naturally. It's in the exams now; we want natural, unforced, pleasing tone."

After Perkel, Sloman became a tireless fundraiser for the new Auckland Opera Company. She remembers Helen Medlyn singing at a swept-up Cin Cin function - "she turned up in a flaming red frock and transformed all these baroque ariettas into cabaret songs". For the past decade, Sloman has been at the helm of Opera Factory and she is directing the company's double bill which opens tonight.

The duelling divas of Mozart's The Impresario will be "very trad and very over the top", she confesses, and expect top-notch singing from Sloman's daughter, Emma, and Cambridge soprano Elaine Wogan.

Sloman is a little more cagey about the other half of the programme, New Zealand Opera Idol, which is still evolving. This will give "young ones the chance to do repertoire". She warns that one fledgling baritone is all geared up to do Monostatos' aria in punk garb.

Sally Sloman is the driving force behind Opera Factory, although she stresses she couldn't survive without her team of five loyal supporters. She is proud to supply young singers for NBR New Zealand Opera's Elixir of Love and Orewa's Centrestage Theatre production of Sweeney Todd.

Once again, the pressure is on to find new premises as their Eden St tenancy expires in July. In the meantime, it's opera as usual, off Broadway and on target.

Performance

* What: Mozart Opera Off Broadway, with The Impresario & NZ Opera Idol

* Where and when: Opera Factory, 18 Eden St, Newmarket; tonight-Saturday, 7.30pm