Blyth opera soprano returns home for Rotary Club Christmas concert after summer with Opera Holland Park

The soprano will perform at the Rotary Club of Blyth’s annual event held on Friday, December 9 at St Cuthbert’s Church.

The event starts at 7.30pm with tickets available for £5 on the door, and also features a performance from the Ashington Colliery Band.

The Royal Academy of Music graduate now lives in London and performed with Opera Holland Park in the summer.

She said: “When I got a place at the Royal Academy of Music, [the Rotary Club] sponsored part of my studies there, which I was incredibly grateful for.

“Because we have had this relationship for so many years I am always keen to be involved with their concert, just to say thank you and to give back the support that they have given me throughout my music career.

“It is always lovely to come back to Blyth, especially at Christmas time, and do this concert and see family.”

The 25-year-old first got into singing when attending Bede Academy, where her Mum was a music teacher, and performing in the school’s musicals.

She started taking classical singing lessons and began to set her sights on an opera career around age 15.

She said: “I was quite naive, in that I had this big vision of singing on a big stage in a glamorous dress with sparkly jewellery on.

“However, the reality of the industry is that it is very, very, hard work.

“It has been quite a tough journey so far, but you have to be resilient and if you love it enough then you will keep going.”

Ashleigh graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in 2020 with all the theatres closed due to pandemic, but managed to get involved with teaching and outreach work.

She got her first professional contract this summer, where she was in the chorus for Opera Holland Park’s double bill of Delius’s Margot la Rouge and Puccini’s Le Villi.

She also co-hosts the AA Opera podcast with her friend Avi Green, which has 89 episodes.

Following the Christmas concert, Ashleigh says she has auditions lined up for the New Year, and she plans to continue with some of her teaching work.