Introducing Emma Brown - actress and mezzo soprano.

Over the last five months I have had the great pleasure of working with the very talented Emma Brown. Emma is originally from Nottingham in England but is currently residing and working in the beautiful Dutch university city of Leiden - south of Amsterdam. Her main professional work is as a much sort after mezzo- soprano. Emma read Music at the University of Cambridge before continuing her studies at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague and at Utrecht Conservatoire - both in the Netherlands. At Cambridge University Emma regularly participated in the Marlowe Society's play reading sessions for young playwrights.

As mentioned in a previous blog post we have found a way of rehearsing together that requires some flexibility to put into practice because not only are The Netherlands are an hour ahead but also because of each other's busy creative schedules. Emma is very much looking forward to performing at the Jakobus Theatre in Karlsruhe Germany in my new play, Grüße aus dem Schützengraben. In this Emma plays Frank Philip's daughter Madeleine and various other characters. She has a great dedication to the piece, a fun approach, a good instinct for dramatic levity and weight and poetry within the text and is continually offering creative and editorial advice, always in an enhancing and positive light. It is an enormous pleasure to have Emma on board this new production.

A brief resume of Emma's creative and educational background would have to include the following:

• December 2014: Jakobus Theatre Karlsruhe: Grüße aus dem Schützengraben by Phil Lowe

• October 2014 Leiden Memorial Service singing solo with the Dutch Royal Navy.
• Leiden English Freshers new adaptation of Volpone playing the outrageous Lady Politic Would-be.
• June 2014 Pancras Consort singing Ravel's Trois Beaux Oiseaux du Paradis.

• Ongoing: Reads audio books for City Books (www.citybooks.eu)

• Work-shopped with professional actress Prunella Scales on The Importance of Being Earnest.

• April 2012: Jakobus Theatre in The Lace Market Theatre Company's production of Hedda Gabler.

• 2010 Singer in Dutch National Opera production of  Il Priggioniero by Dalla Picolla

• Has sung for the Dutch New Opera Academy at the Dutch National Opera and sang the role of Eve in Carlijn Metselaar's new opera - In The Beginning.

• Her church music has been performed in The Netherlands and England including the prestigious and acoustically beautiful Hooglanse Kerk in Leiden and the Laurenskerk in Rotterdam as well as St Mary's Church in Nottingham's historic Lace Market district.

Emma is working to maximise her talents for a solo career that is both challenging and fulfilling. She is currently studying a wide range of repertoire, including standard opera and oratorio and works by new composers. She told me that she enjoys the challenge of new music and the satisfaction of bringing new life to existing repertoire. Her thrilling and powerful voice, rich in colour and highly versatile has already attracted international acclaim.

Emma also has a great stage presence as an actress and is looking forward to her roles in Phil Lowe's new play Grüße aus dem Schützengraben premiering at Karlsruhe's Jakobus Theatre on 4th and 5th of December before a possible run in Nottingham in 2015.