Date: Sunday,
April 9, 2000
Section: FEATURES - ACCENT & ARTS
Page: 01H
Illustration: Photo
Byline: Barbara Zuck
Source: Dispatch Arts Columnist
Column: Artbeat
Arts journalists are accustomed to delving into the personal, and
sometimes unexpected, interests of their subjects as a way of
revealing the "inside" story, the "real" person
behind the public facade.
I've discussed
Italian cats with Doc Severinsen, Upper Michigan with Christoph von
Dohnanyi, horses with Luciano Pavarotti and, most recently, the
music of Burt Bacharach with Columbus Symphony Orchestra maestro
Alessandro Siciliani (Who knew he could sing Raindrops Keep Falling
on My Head in Italian?).
The subject of
teddy bears, however, had not surfaced until recently. That may be
because most of the artists with whom I cross paths tend to be on
the far -- or far, far -- side of 40.
But beyond
school chums, travel and -- oh, by the way -- meeting world
luminaries such as the pope and Queen Elizabeth II, what areas of
personal life are open for discussion with a 14-year-old?
"I haven't
decided if I'm bringing them this time," Charlotte Church said
when asked which bear might travel to Columbus with her.
She's known for
toting teddy bears of various sizes onstage with her. In the video
Charlotte Church: Voice of an Angel in Concert, a pile of stuffed
animals sits on one side of the stage.
Her menagerie
consists of "oh, thousands," she said, distractedly. She
admitted to be trying to do her homework during our phone interview.
Church is the
latest singing sensation in the growing world of quasi-classical
music. Barely three years ago she was an unknown Welsh schoolgirl.
Today she lives in the same house and attends the same school just
outside Cardiff, but her sweet face and clear young soprano are
recognizable worldwide.
With fame and,
presumably, fortune, has not necessarily come sophistication.
Thank goodness.
Her hobbies
reflect a typical teen.
"I like
shopping, sleepovers with my friends, Rollerblading and, um,
squash." Friends sometimes accompany her on tour.
"I took
Joanne and Kim to Australia with me, and Kim went to Paris. Kim,
Abby and Joanne are my best friends. They think it's great."
Church's
favorite opera singers are Andrea Bocelli, Cecilia Bartoli and Renee
Fleming, but she prefers pop stars Marc Anthony, Madonna and Alanis
Morissette.
"I don't
listen to classical music really," she said. "I don't know
what I want to do (when I grow up). My opinion about opera has
changed in the last year. I'm not sure now if I want to sing opera.
I can't decide."
Child labor
laws in Great Britain prevent Church from working more than 80 days
a year.
"Working
is when I'm doing a performance," she said. "Interviews
are not considered work."
She does four
to 10 interviews a day.
Around these
she goes to school, tries to squeeze in piano lessons and practices
singing -- "generally when I'm home and stuff I sing a half
hour a day. Or up to an hour. Never more."
And her voice?
"There are
certainly things I'd like to improve, but basically I'm quite happy
with it at the moment."
An only child,
Church began singing as a toddler and was reading music at age 10.
At 11, she made her professional debut -- an impromptu rendition of
Andrew Lloyd Webber's Pie Jesu on a TV talent show.
A savvy
marketer latched on to her natural charm and talent -- a budding
star quality, if you will -- and the rest is history, albeit a short
one to date. Church's first album, Voice of an Angel, released two
years ago, included renditions of the Webber work as well as Ave
Maria and Amazing Grace. The disc, featuring the Orchestra and
Chorus of the Welsh National Opera, sold 3 million copies.
Her second
album, the more operatic Charlotte Church, went platinum, making her
the youngest artist to have a No. 1 album on the classical charts.
She also hit No. 1 on the Billboard crossover chart, and already has
appeared on TV talk shows with Oprah Winfrey, David Letterman and
Jay Leno and on the CBS series Touched by an Angel. Among her most
ardent fans are those who like to listen to traditional religious
music performed with an orchestra and sung by a young -- and angelic
-- voice.
In the wake of
her sudden and enormous popularity, Church began to tour and make
public appearances last year, though her Columbus performance --
Tuesday with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra -- will be her
Midwestern debut.
The teen comes
across as bright, cheery and energetic. She speaks with a lovely,
lilting voice and enunciates every consonant. Though perhaps overly
programmed at the moment, she still seems relatively natural and
normal. And she does have nonconcert interests: She talked the
longest about ancient Egypt.
"I want to
go to university," she said. "I want to study Egyptology.
I just finished reading this 1,000-page book with tiny printing
about The Memoirs of Cleopatra. It was so good I had to start
reading it again. I've never been to Egypt, but I would love to go.
Ancient Rome as well. Of course, I don't know what's there now. This
was written in B.C."
Child prodigies
have not always fared well as they matured. Many brilliant
beginnings have become mired in emotional, artistic or other
problems in adulthood.
Moreover, since
the days of Mozart, the fickle public has been known to lose
interest when artists grow up and are no longer cute. There are,
after all, hundreds of adult concert artists but only a few younger
than 16.
Tickets to her
appearance with the Columbus Symphony sold out in three hours.
Will Church's
voice develop appropriately? Will her career have legs? Will folks
flock to see her when she is no longer a girl soprano?
Whatever lies
ahead, after Tuesday, many will be able to say "I remember her
when . . ."
