Heather Newhouse,
singing from the heart
« In moments of collective joy or collective pain, there is always a song ».
Brené Brown
A longstanding member of the Concert de l’Hostel Dieu, with whom she currently appears in Mourad Merzouki’s Folia in Paris, Canadian soprano Heather Newhouse is a versatile interpreter whose repertoire ranges from Mozart opera and Handel oratorio to Barbara Strozzi, Britten and Berio. Her sensual timber has seduced many, such as Kazushi Ono, Leonardo García Alarcón, Stefano Montanari, Patrick Davin and Frédérick Haas.
AN ENTIRELY INTERNATIONAL STUDENT
” I came to study in Europe for the diverse artistic opportunities for my voice type. My timber is best suited to the more delicate, intimate and tender musical settings,” states Heather Newhouse. “My training is traditionally classical which has enabled me to hone my unique vocal strengths and capabilities. “
After completing a Bachelor of Music at the University of Western Ontario, London, Ont. and a Masters of Music at the prestigious Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, UK, the Canadian soprano moved to Lyon, France where she pursued further training at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse. She completed her diploma in 2010 and joined the opera troupe at Opéra de Lyon for three consecutive seasons. During this time she had several significant encounters – singing teacher Cécile De Boever, ténor Jean-Paul Fouchécourt, Franck-Emmanuel Comte, Le Concert de l’Hostel Dieu – all contributed to her decision to settle in the Gaul’s historic capital.
« I was very lucky to have a strong support system for my professional debut” she says. “This essential artistic support helped me find my voice and find my way. »
Participation in numerous international competitions added to the formal training of Ms. Newhouse where she was awarded many prizes and distinctions, providing flourishes with new-found confidence, efficiency and self-discipline. In 2012 she won the Froville International Singing Competition and in the same year, was awarded second place at the Macon International Singing Competition where she had a meaningful and encouraging encounter with Paul Agnew, adjoining musical director of well-known Baroque ensemble Les Arts Florissants.
« A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song ».
Maya Angelou
FROM BAROQUE MUSIC TO DANCE
This Canadian soprano, going on 13 years in Lyon, is now an integral part of the lyonnais Baroque musical scene, most notably through her close collaboration with Le Concert de l’Hostel Dieu. She is noted for being well-suited to this repertoire and her voice flourishes in concerts as well as the recordings of this Lyon-based ensemble, with whom she recently performed in a recital of Italian women Baroque composers, centered around Barbara Strozzi. She now prepares, alongside two other Froville competition winners, a concert dedicated to French and Italian women composers, with Le Concert de l’Hostel Dieu, as part of the 2020 Froville Baroque Music Festival.
She is currently performing with Mourad Merzouki’s dance troupe and Le Concert de l’Hostel Dieu at 13e Art in Paris until New Year’s Eve 2020 for FOLIA, a Merzouki creation that premiered at Nuits de Fourvière in 2018 and will also be programmed at the Montpellier Dance Festival this summer. An extensive tour will follow, in France and abroad. Although she may feel quite at home with the tarentellas and Vivaldi arias of this enchanting production, working so closely with the seventeen hip-hop dancers is a completely new experience and has been a source of inspiration.
“The dancers generate such an incredible energy” she says enthusiastically. “It is exciting and inspiring.”
Heather Newhouse will once again explore this scintillating world of dance with Baroque ensemble Ausonia, Frédérick Haas and Nō theater master Masato Matsuura in a new production of Monteverdi’s Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda this July in Belgium.
MOZART, KING OF HER HEART
In high demand for Baroque performance, next season will be no exception with new collaborations with ensemble Correspondances, Sébastien Daucé and Canadian ensemble Arion, Mathieu Lussier in a programme centered around soprano Marie Fel (1713-1794), and the rôles she premiered, Rameau and French women composers of that time. Heather Newhouse has a particular fondness for English music: Handel – whose arias she often uses in her warm-ups – but also Britten, whose unique musical style suits her very well. An adolescent love of French mélodie continues to inspire her, and has had a meaningful impact on her choice of singing as a vocation.
Fulfilling as this diverse repertoire may be, Mozart remains king of her musical heart.
“My premiere as Pamina was a meaningful milestone” she recounts. “I am always so delighted to reconnect with Mozart in new projects, be it operatic or in concert. His sacred music in particular is transcending.”
For Heather, Mozart’s music brought about numerous meaningful musical experiences, most recently, an encounter with Hervé Niquet, with whom she had the honour of performing Requiem last April in Montreal with the Montreal Symphonic Orchestra.