By Elissa Blake
In Hollywood, it's the situation every ingenue dreams of. In reality, it's the toughest test of an artist's mettle. The star of the show is indisposed. You're on!
The most recent to take up the challenge is Australian soprano Kiandra Howarth, who stepped into the lead role of Adina in the Royal Opera production of Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore (The Elixir of Love) at Covent Garden on Tuesday night.
Australian soprano Kiandra Howarth stepped into lead role in the opera The Elixir of Love at London's Covent Garden.
The British soprano Lucy Crowe withdrew from the role on Tuesday morning due to illness. An announcement was made on the Royal Opera website just after 1pm. Howarth, who has sung the second-tier role of Giannetta in previous performances of the opera, was on stage at 7pm.
Speaking immediately after the performance, Howarth says she found the experience, "exciting, nerve-wracking and out-of-this-world".
"It was only halfway through Act 1 when the enormity of what I was doing dawned on me," Howarth says. "Probably my proudest moment was when Vittorio [Grigolo, the Italian tenor singing the role of Nemorino] dragged me forward at the end for an extra bow.
"Everyone at the Royal Opera has been so caring and amazing. It was fantastic also to receive so many messages of love and support from Australia."
The 24-year-old Howarth was singing one of the smaller parts but she was also covering the main role, explains Tony Legge, Opera Australia's associate music director. "You're always ready to go on. Kiandra has a fanastic voice for someone so young. She has a very mature voice. She has a talent you cannot teach. It is natural instinct."
Another Australian soprano waiting in the wings, Lauren Fagan, took over as Giannetta. The rest of the cast in the Lauren Pelly-directed production – which includes the Welsh baritone superstar Bryn Terfel as the quack Doctor Dulcamara - remained unchanged.
Queensland-raised Howarth has been with the Royal Opera since 2013, having joined the company under the Royal Opera's Jette Parker Young Artists Programme. Her roles since have included Flowermaiden (Parsifal), Echo (Ariadne auf Naxos) and Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte).
Howarth made her professional operatic debut as Josie in the world premiere of the youth opera Dirty Apple (Opera Queensland, 2009) and after joining Opera Australia's Young Artists Program in 2012 has sung Papagena (The Magic Flute), Zerlina (Don Giovanni) and Norina (Don Pasquale). Howarth and Fagan are two of five Australians in the Royal Opera's Young Artists Programme. Tenor Samuel Sakker, Baritone Samuel Dale Johnson, and director Greg Eldridge also made the cut.
"This in an international programme open to singers from all over the world," Legge says. "To have five Australians in a group of 13 is terrific. To have the Royal Opera aware of the level of talent coming out of a small and far away country is a great compliment."