Music Makers: with Amy J Payne, Mezzo-soprano, Actor and Director

Music we love and live with

We are delighted to welcome Amy J Payne, a mezzo-soprano, actor and director known for her vivid characterisation, comic instinct and wonderfully distinctive stage presence. Equally at home in opera, operetta, musical theatre and pantomime, Amy has built a career around bringing characters to life with wit, warmth and theatrical flair, alongside an increasing body of work as a director and creative collaborator. This November, she makes her English National Opera debut as Petrovna in the UK premiere of Elena Langer’s To Die For.

Aria you hum round the house / sing in the shower

Usually (and quite unhelpfully!) someone else’s music from any show I happen to be rehearsing or performing at the time!

First aria you remember studying

“Voi che sapete” (Le nozze di Figaro) - show me a mezzo who didn’t!

Aria you rely on professionally

“As I was saying….Scorned! Abused!….” (Baba the Turk, The Rake's Progress) - useful to have in the audition bag in almost any context.

Last piece of music you deliberately chose to listen to

“Alles Schwindel” (Spoliansky) - plus other Weimar-era cabaret for a potential project next year...

Aria you feel most emotionally connected to

Not opera but I hope I can have it: “The Miller’s Son” (A Little Night Music, Sondheim) - what a gift of a song.

Aria you wish you could sing / would love to learn next

“Da Chas Nastal” (The Maid of Orleans) - I love Tchaikovsky and it’s an aria I often come back to working on for fun. So the neighbours have heard it (probably too much!) but no one else!

Explore more of Amy J Payne’s work www.amyjpayne.com