He didn’t grow up exposed to opera. Far from it.
He’d never heard opera till he was 18, when he was forced into a singing lesson, he says.
“I had been a musician forever, playing the piano, jamming with friends, playing every genre you could think of, but I’d never come across opera. I remember hearing it for the first time, thinking ‘What is
this!’”
Rigoletto. It’s still his favourite and the role he covets most.
“I didn’t know the male voice could sound like that. All the emotion – I thought, this guy’s hurting, but I didn’t know why.”