We’re thrilled to have talented young opera singer Jack Dolan playing the role of Gonzalve in our production of Ravel’s L’heure espagnole.
Born and raised in Manchester, Jack Dolan is currently based in London. He is a graduate of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, having studied with Maureen Brathwaite, Sarah Pring and Adrian Thompson. At Guildhall, Jack was a John S Cohen Foundation Scholar and a Baroness de Turkenheim Scholar, supported by the Drapers’ Company.
Jack’s musical roots lie in rock and blues, and he studied guitar for six years whilst developing a love for Classical music. His eclectic musical tastes, from rock to musical theatre, sparked a fascination with vocal music and motivated his research into all different types of singing. Originally, he intended to follow an academic path and become a teacher; however, he was persuaded by Claire Surman to change his path to study at Conservatoire and train as a tenor.
We caught up with Jack to find out more:
When did you start singing and what drew you to singing as a career?
I started singing quite late at the age of 15, honestly because I was terrible at GCSE music and my teacher told me singing would help me improve my musicianship. Eventually, my teacher thought I had a nice voice and got me an audition for a local amateur production of Les Mis. Through taking part in that production, I met my first singing teacher, Claire, who suggested I should try to sing professionally. Claire is a real inspiration to me, I had no idea about the process of training to be a professional musician at that stage and she guided me through everything. Since then, I’ve not looked back.
What are you up to at the moment?
I’ve just come out of two very busy summer and autumn seasons, which have been incredible. It’s nice to be enjoying some downtime at the moment. Currently, I’m working with ETO for their Spring season. I’m covering Edmondo and in the ensemble for Manon Lescaut and singing in the ensemble for The Rake’s Progress.
What do you feel you might gain from this experience with ERSO?
The chance to work on such an interesting piece of repertoire, with all of its amazing orchestral colours will be such a good experience. It’s also incredibly exciting to meet and work with a new conductor and group of artists for the first time. Singing as a soloist to professionals in the industry could lead to new opportunities, which is always an exciting prospect.
ERSO 