Three talented Barbadian classical singers are about to get a boost in their quest for the world’s big opera stages through the efforts of British opera singer Melinda Hughes.
Tenor Nathan Richards, bass baritone Fernando Watts and soprano Shantal Martin, who have all had varying levels of exposure outside of Barbados and have also been getting some tutelage, mentorship and performance opportunities locally from Hughes, are scheduled to be heading off to the United Kingdom and Germany where Hughes plans to assist them further with their journey.
She is especially excited about the prospects for 31-year-old Richards whom she described as “my most important mentee”.
“We are invested in kick-starting Nathan’s operatic path to success by paying for his flight to London, a six-week opera course, accommodation and private singing lessons from July to September 2025. This will prepare him for a round of auditions in the autumn,” Hughes said.
She added: “Nathan needs further vocal coaching, lessons in stage technique, languages and repertoire to get him to the standard required for international young artists programmes.” Observing that “tenors are rare”, she expressed confidence that “with specific mentoring, he has a huge career ahead of him”.
Richards’ performance was received with rousing applause from the audience when he appeared first in the 2023 edition and again in the 2024 edition of Hughes’ Allstars Festival, a sold-out event incorporating opera, comedy and cabaret, at Hayman’s Market in St Peter.
Hughes told Buzz: “When I take Nathan to London and I introduce him to my coaches and people who are friends of mine who now run opera companies or who are in important positions, I know that they are going to be excited to hear him . . . . I want to get him up to a level where he can audition for the National Opera Studio or for the Royal Opera House Young Artists Programme.”
For the “exceptionally talented” bass baritone Watts, who is at the beginning of his career, the trip to Germany, which has been organised for him, represents another significant step in his journey.
Germany’s Opera Studio Weimar offers singers training in building the skills they need to get hired and work in Germany. The Barbadian sang at the Studio last year and recently was offered two roles this summer – Frank, in “Die Fledermaus,” an operetta composed by Johann Strauss and Bartolo, in “Le nozze di Figaro.”
Hughes said the Studio “offers unique opportunities to work with top directors, conductors and coaches,” and noted Watts’ performances “will have agents and scouts in attendance”. She also disclosed there was a scholarship being offered “for tuition and accommodation,” but cautioned this was not guaranteed. While in Germany, Fernando can also audition for agents, festivals and opera houses.
The plan for Martin, “a passionate young opera and musical theatre singer” who is “already accomplished enough to be working and is signed with the Lamonte Management Company in London, is for the Barbadian singer to have a three-month stint in London “to partake in dance classes, attend auditions and receive vocal coaching.”
“The brilliant thing about Shantal is that she has a great charisma as a person on stage and I think she would be very suited more to the world of musical theatre. She can sing opera very well, but it is a competitive world as a soprano . . . . I think she would probably have a better chance if she went into Broadway in New York or musical theatre, because she is great . . . I am very confident she will land a role/swing cover in a West End musical,” Hughes said, of the Barbadian who graduated in classical voice and opera performance from the Manhattan School of Music with a bachelor’s degree in 2017 and a masters’ in 2019.
Hughes ßis an honours graduate of Germany’s Maastricht Conservatory of Music and a graduate of the Royal College of Music and the Brussels Opera Studio, having followed her passion for singing. After graduation, she first toured Europe for three years as a soloist with the Andre Rieu Strauss Orchestra, going on to pursue an operatic career in which she sang more than 20 lead soprano roles as well as oratorios and recitals in opera houses and concert halls around the world.
She came to Barbados 11 years ago to perform at The Holders Season and shared with Buzz she had “such a fabulous time here; I came back on holiday and that was when the general manager of Cobblers Cove Hotel asked me to put on an event”. Through this, she met Martin and later began an “on and off” collaboration with the Barbados Community College (BCC) and head of the music programme, Roger Gittens. She taught at the BCC for a short period last year.
“I met some fabulously talented singers,” she said. “There is a gap where they finish their studies and then they can’t work professionally because there are very few vehicles for them here. It is a very competitive profession and I don’t want to give anyone false hopes, but the three people I am working with are practically on their way.”
In Barbados, where she spends part of the year, Hughes and her husband Denis run a non-profit company called The Speightstown Allstars, in collaboration with two Barbadian co-directors. It is designed to nurture the careers of talented young Barbadian opera singers such as Martin, Richards and Watts, for whose upcoming overseas undertaking further support funding is being sought.
