Michelle Baird on MGM musicals, McDonagh and Mussenden
Professional vocalist with 50s band Soda Popz, Michelle Baird is also the Director of Marketing and Communications with the Ulster Orchestra.
Here she answers our questions:
Q. What is your favourite song/album?
A. My taste in music is extremely wide! Song-wise, it’s a toss up between the Keane song ‘Somewhere Only We Know’ and The Eagles song ‘Take it Easy’. My favourite album is Acoustic Cafe which is a brilliant compilation of acoustic versions of classic songs.
Q. What is your favourite film?
A. The MGM classic ‘Singin in the Rain’. Love it!
Q. What is your favourite piece of classical music?
A. John William’s Theme for Schindler’s List. It touches my heart literally every time I hear it and the Ulster Orchestra always perform it so beautifully.
Q. Who is your favourite artist?
A. Doris Day.
Q. What is your favourite play?
A. My favourite play is ‘The Pillow Man’ by Martin McDonagh. I saw it at the Lyric Theatre. What an amazing piece of theatre!
Q. What is your favourite musical?
A. It was ‘Phantom of the Opera’ until I saw ‘Waitress’ earlier this year and was blown away by it!
Q. What is your most special moment in the arts?
A. For me it was performing a solo sell-out concert on my birthday in December in the fabulous Mussenden Temple on the north coast. Another special moment was watching my husband Matt Forsythe receive one of the longest standing ovations I’ve witnessed while performing ‘A Night in November’ in the Lyric Theatre. Proud wife moment!
Q. What ‘classic’ just doesn’t do it for you?
A. The film ‘Brief Encounter’. Musical-wise, it’s ‘Rent’.
Q. What have you been reading/watching/listening to/revisiting during the Coronavirus period?
A. I’ve been working full-time so didn’t really have that much free time but when I did, I was listening to 50s songs to update my Soda Popz band repertoire and watching Disney films with my four-year-old daughter Isla.