Coronavirus: Young NI opera singers in online Mozart tribute to NHS staff

The young artists of NI Opera Studio made the recording of Mozart’s ‘Soave sia il vento’ to express their gratitude and admiration for the work of the entire NHS team in Belfast and frontline workers across NI.

Singers Zoe Jackson, Rebecca Murphy, David Lee and David Corr, along with pianist Frasier Hickland, recorded it from their homes and released the finished version on social media earlier this week.

Zoe, a 23-year-old from Moira, is part of NI Opera’s Studio programme to support young artists.

She said: “Everyone is getting the hang of this online thing now. It worked out fairly easy. Frasier Hickland, he’s the pianist, he recorded the accompaniment first.

“We all had the piano part in our ear, via headphones, so we’re singing along to that.”

She added: “I think a lot of musicians are finding it’s working really well and they’re just very grateful to keep making music.

“It’s nice that so many people are listening to music at this moment.

“It’s bringing them comfort. It’s one of the things people turn to whenever they’re stuck at home.

“Music is such a social industry, it’s so good to still have that connection.

“A lot of our performances had to be cancelled before the lockdown even started.”

Zoe, who left Wallace in 2015 before returning to the school three years later to teach singing to pupils, said: “We’ve been able to continue teaching online which has been fab.

“We do it through Facetime or Skype, whatever platform the pupils can access. We do one-to-one lessons – it works really, really well.”

Zoe explained why the particular piece by Mozart was chosen: “It’s in Italian. The translation is ‘gentle be the breeze, calm be the waves, and every element smile in favour on their wish’.

“It was a little thing to say thank you but also it is one of the most fantastic pieces that Mozart ever wrote and it is such a message of hope.”

She added: “A few of my cousins are nurses, one of them works in intensive care and another is a paediatric nurse. I know how hard they have been working.

“It’s the least we can do. There’s been so much gratitude shown for the NHS. This has made everyone realise how fantastic it is and they totally deserve all the gratitude they have been getting.”

The young artists and pianists taking part in this performance are, all but one, from Northern Ireland and are starting their professional careers in opera.

Northern Ireland Opera joins them in sending its good wishes to the Belfast Health Trust and frontline workers across NI.