Photos: Amalia Osborne
Wanting to be an international opera star is a huge goal that will take tenacity and resilience, knowing you’re competing with other talented performers from around the globe.
To strive for that in your early twenties may seem unattainable – yet Tayla Alexander has already proven she has the determination, and the physical and mental staying power, to achieve her dream.
Even years of crippling pain brought on by ovarian cysts that resulted in emergency surgery hasn’t stopped her performing.
“I managed to do a lot despite where I was at,” the 23-year-old Aucklander says. It has been only a little more than two months since she underwent surgery to have seven cysts removed.
“I performed 18 shows as Christine in Phantom of the Opera this January in Tokyo in a week and a half. During it, I had no day off in two months – all while needing surgery.
“Often I would be okay during the beginning of the first act. But then by the end of act one, I was in a significant amount of pain. But I was doing the thing I’ve dreamed of my entire life, so I was not going to stop. It’s also a great insight into how my career’s going to look. I now know that I can get through a lot and keep working.”
Back in New Zealand following that season, Tayla kept advocating for her health. Eventually a specialist agreed with her pleas for a scan.
“That instantly found the problem, but the pain got a lot worse after the scan and I was heading towards ovarian torsion, where I was in danger of my ovaries twisting and bursting,” she explains.
Weeks after the operation to remove 14 centimetres of growth, Tayla started rehearsals for her new role as Alice in Le comte Ory (The Count Ory), a contemporary NZ Opera production of a Rossini comedy that tours Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, starting later this month.
If that bounce-back seems quick, Tayla recalls having to perform only hours after learning her beloved Oupa (grandfather) had died suddenly. “I’ve had to push through before, maybe more than the average performer,” reflects the soprano. “The Unruly Tourists was my first professional principal lead with NZ Opera. The day we had our dress rehearsal, my beautiful Oupa, who had a huge part in raising me, passed away. It was the hardest, most shocking thing I’ve ever had to go through.
“Three hours later, I had to be backstage, make-up ready, hair done. I had to find calm so that I could go on and do the job. Over the past two years, there have been a lot of times where I’ve had to absolutely go very deep within and find some strength.”
Tayla says her parents Dwayne and Kate could always see how their youngest daughter transformed to opera, so they encouraged her dream to make it a career.
“They said I was a very sensitive child, and there was always a massive difference in my mood and my mental health whenever I was singing and performing, so they kept encouraging me and it became my focus whenever anything is hard in life. If my health is bad, I go back to music. Experiencing loss? I go back to music.”
While she and her sister Jade, now 30, grew up around music, she was the one who truly took to performing. She was smitten after singing the national anthem at kindergarten and had singing lessons from an early age. Tayla was nine when she performed at Christmas in the Park.
“I had a huge feather boa and giant red dress that I wanted to wear. Nobody told me not to,” she says.
It fuelled her dream to perform. Last year she finished her Bachelor of Music degree with first-class honours in Performance Voice. Tayla then joined the NZ Opera Studio Artist programme for emerging singers. After this tour finishes, she leaves for London to the Royal Academy of Music for a year-long intensive Master’s programme, on a full bicentennial scholarship.
“Hopefully, I’ll then go into an opera programme. It’s a building of my career, but opera takes a long time to transition from student, young professional to professional. Some might say I’m on the young side to be heading overseas, but I feel really ready, actually.”
Tayla is aware that opera can be perceived as an older person’s entertainment. She is passionate about changing this misconception and making it more interesting for her peers.
“I love the challenge of opera – the language, the complexity of the art. I’m looking at the trajectory of my career and how I can be a part of making opera exciting for my friends.”
That includes her posting behind-the-scenes footage on her Instagram account to show the work involved in a season.
“There are so many amazing moments in the theatre that no one gets to see,” she says. “And you need to hone in on the modern world and break the stereotypes of opera being hard to listen to. A good opera should be entertaining, give you goosebumps and it should be absolutely spellbinding.
“Le comte Ory brings in modern comedy and Kiwi culture. Our New Zealand audiences can actually see themselves, and relate to the work and humour.
“My character Alice essentially represents the people. She’s just a normal townsperson, and she has to connect and communicate to the countess and the count. I’m trying to think of her in relation to who I am right now in my career because I’m just a young singer, trying to figure it out. I can’t wait to see where I can take it.”
NZ Opera’s Le comte Ory by Rossini plays in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. To book tickets, follow the links to the corresponding dates below:
Auckaland
Wellington
Christchurch
