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Church-goers blessed: Precocious singing sensation has the voice of an angel
by Sarah Rodman
Tuesday, May 1, 2001
Charlotte Church at the Wang Theatre, Boston, last night.
Charlotte Church may have the voice of an angel, as her multi-platinum albums and autobiography proclaim, but she has the personality of a 15-year-old girl.
It was that endearing lack of airs - the nervous giggles and mischievous stage banter - that went a long way in winning over the crowd last night at the Wang Theatre. That and her very eclectic 75-minute set list of classical arias, Broadway show tunes, Celtic folk songs and the odd pop song.
After a pleasant, if undermiked, overture by a 40-plus piece orchestra, Church emerged in the first of three outfits - a glittery gold lame top and black ankle-length skirt - and began with two songs from ``West Side Story'' -``Tonight'' and ``Somewhere.'' Both were perfectly pitched and showcased her strong vibrato, yet they also exposed the rough spots in Church's break and her somewhat flawed breathing technique, which was a problem off and on throughout the night.
Notably, her control improved considerably when tackling the classical pieces including a bright and sprightly run through La Pastorella and her signature piece, the soaring Pie Jesu.
The Celtic folk songs, accompanied only by harp, had the warmest expressiveness to them and proved that Church knows when to understate. She also sang one song sans amplification in what she termed her attempt at being classically proper. Although it's doubtful those in the upper reaches of the balcony could hear - to whom she apologized and told to return in five years when she's more powerful - Church's voice is clearly stronger than she is often given credit.
But it was the show tunes that clearly warmed the crowd's heart as they could be heard audibly sighing ahhhh each time the precociously gifted PBS-approved phenom would introduce a song. Although it was the show-closing ``Danny Boy'' that drew the biggest contented sigh.
At 15, Church obviously lacks the depth to inhabit some of these songs, including ``Bali Hai'' from ``South Pacific'' and ``Summertime'' from ``Porgy and Bess,'' but she did a creditable job. Even she admitted before her set-closing number that she might not have had all the experiences it takes to really sing a song like Simon and Garfunkel's ``Bridge Over Troubled Water,'' but stated, ``I'm going to sing it as expressively as I can.'' Which turned out to be better than a 15-year-old has a right to but not exactly on par with say, Aretha Franklin. Of course, all that comes in time.
Proving she's no diva, Church emerged at the beginning of the evening to introduce opening act, the Jesse Cook Trio. Cook, a gifted rumba flamenco guitarist, ably aided by a skillful percussionist and synth guitarist, played a short, pleasant set that moved from delicate and mournful picking to jubilant and fleet strumming and had the audience clapping along.
This girl's life
Charlotte Church not your ordinary 15-year-old soprano
April 25, 2001
By Susan DiGeronimo
Staff Editor
Talk to most 15-year-old sopranos, and chances are their career highlight to date would not include singing for the pope.
But Welsh singing sensation Charlotte Church is not your average 15-year-old. When asked Tuesday night about career highlights, she unhesitatingly replied that her 1999 performance for Pope John Paul II stood out as a top honor.
"Singing for the Royal Family was pretty special, too," she said matter-of-factly.
Church also sang at communications mogul Rupert Murdoch's wedding, recalling, "It was on this antique yacht that was really fancy, so everyone had to take their shoes off before they could come on board."
Like many 15-year-olds, Church is looking forward to some time off from her current responsibilities. Unlike many of her peers, however, her current endeavor is a nationwide tour of singing engagements, including a stop Monday at the Wang Center in Boston.
Church also deals with the realities all teens deal with -- education, family, friends. She travels with her mother, stepfather and two tutors. After this tour ends, on May 5 in Minneapolis, she said she will have to prepare to take a series of final exams. But then, she gleefully noted, she has "10 weeks off! I've got 10 weeks off!"
In just a few short years, outstanding vocal talent and a lot of hard work have catapulted Church from a schoolgirl's life in Wales to an international singing phenomenon. She was the youngest artist ever to appear on the Billboard 100 charts. Her first recording, "Voice of an Angel," released when she was just 12, went double platinum and reached No. 1 on Britain's classical music chart, No. 10 on the British pop music charts, and was successful in the United States as well. More recently, she released a holiday album, "Dream a Dream," which went platinum and was the top-selling holiday album in the U.S. for 2000.
She has met and performed for world leaders including former President Bill Clinton, and has an upcoming PBS special, "Charlotte Church in Jerusalem." People magazine named her one of its "25 Most Intriguing People" for 1999. On April 11, her autobiography, "Voice Of An Angel -- My Life (So Far)" was released by Time Warner Books.
All in all, not your typical teen's life. And viewed in terms of her talent and her lifestyle, Church is not a typical teen. But the parenthetical "(So Far)" in the title of her autobiography gives a hint of the down-to-earth, unaffected personality of this far-from-ordinary teen-age girl.
In many ways she's not so different from any other tenth-grader. Her list of current favorite musical acts and recordings reads like that of many other teen-agers. "I like listening to Destiny's Child -- I love their new CD," she said. "I also like Blink 182, I like Sting, I like Evan and
Jarod, I like Jill Scott. And I like that Aerosmith song 'Jaded'."
Church hasn't made any musical forays yet into the pop genre, though. She's made a name for herself with her interpretations and performances of pieces from classical music. The program for her current tour, she said, is comprised of "show songs, songs from my first album and my second album, some surprises -- well, they're not really big surprises, just songs you might not expect me to sing. Like I'm singing 'Bridge Over Troubled Water'."
When asked who helps pick pieces for her performances -- whether it's mostly her call, or whether it's more of a committee decision, Church blurted, "No -- that's me."
She added, "Then, of course, there are people around me, so I'll ask them what they think. And you've got to think of what the fans want -- there's got to be a compromise."
She listed her criteria for choosing performance pieces. "In a song, in general, I look for a nice melody line; nice, suitable words; and a song that has contrast and color, depth and meaning."
The current tour is a whirlwind of activity, and although she's the star of her show, it's not necessarily an easy life. When interviewed by telephone Tuesday night, for instance, she talked on a cellphone from a car taking her to a book signing. She had already done three interviews that day.
"On this tour, well, we have one concert day and one day off," she said. "A concert day is, you know, get up, take a shower, relax a bit, then it's rehearsing, do the show, travel to the next show."
What does she do during her days off? "Shop!" she laughed. When Church hits the stores, she said, she's usually looking for "clothes, shoes, accessories -- you know."
She said she's enjoying performing for American audiences. "So far it's been going really, really well," she said. "It is hard work, but American audiences are so appreciative, whereas in the U.K. they're more, I don't know, stunned fish," she laughed. "Americans are more open, more kind of warm -- I don't know, that's a horrible generalization."
What does the future hold for Church? Even she's not sure. A recent guest appearance on the television show "Touched by an Angel" sparked a nascent interest in acting. "I'd love to do more acting, and there are all kinds of ideas going around right now -- movies, whatever -- but I don't want to say too much right now. With my music, I'd like to experiment, do some collaborations, bring some more kind of world influence into my recordings. Not pop -- just different sounds from different cultures from different parts of the world."
Some classical purists have posited that Church, albeit having the kind of soaring soprano that usually bodes for fame as a singer, is being pushed too hard, too young; they've insinuated that she is somewhat of a novelty act in the staid world of classical music. But Church seems to have a tough skin, and she says she's unfazed by other people's opinions about her music.
"Some people are more open-minded than others," she said firmly. "People who like it, like it -- fantastic. If you don't, then great."
Despite the demands of her career, Church has many of the same dreams and desires as most other teen-agers. When she's not touring or performing, she said, "I go to school, and I like going to parties. When I'm with my friends, or people my age, I don't talk about being famous, I just talk about general subjects. When I'm not at work, you know, I don't want to talk about work -- I like to gossip."
All in all, it's been a phenomenal life so far for Church, professionally filled with far more "ups" than "downs." When asked if she had made any memorable bloopers, she laughed and said, "I've actually been lucky. One time, I forgot some of the words to a song I was singing -- luckily, it was an Italian song, and the words were in Italian, so basically I just spoke in English and made it sound kind of Italian, you know," and here she laughed and went into a parody of rolling, vaguely Italian-sounding vocalizations.
"My teacher was sitting near me, and she's gasping, but what could I do?" Charlotte Church laughed. "I forgot the words."
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