‘The cultural landscape is decimated’: Louise Alder on stage fright, arts funding and the Last Night of the Proms

The great soprano will be the first British singer to top the bill at the Last Night in over a decade. So why does she advise her younger colleagues to leave the country?It’s the height of the August heatwave when I sit down opposite British soprano Louise Alder in a fiercely air-conditioned central London office. We’re here to discuss her headline performance at this year’s Last Night of the Proms but, as a seasonal warmup, I ask whether she’s had a break this summer. Alder looks faintly amused, then reminds me she’s been at Glyndebourne doing three performances of Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro every week since the end of June. In fact, she was on stage as the Countess barely 12 hours earlier.“It’s never-ending,” she says. “I don’t want this to come across negatively – it’s been the most amazing contract – but an extremely long run. Twenty shows, which I think is the longest single run that Glyndebourne has done.” Days after the show closed, the company performed it again at the Proms. “And then a week and a half later, I come back for the Last Night.” Continue reading...

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