PODCAST · arts
Where's My Freaking Dressing Room?!
by Alexander Simpson & Helen Daniels
A classical music podcast inviting you backstage for those conversations which only really take place behind dressing room doors. Two young singers discuss the world of classical music and what things are really like behind the scenes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes
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EMERGENCY EPISODE: BBC Funding Cuts
Alex and Helen have quickly jumped on the podcast to respond to the recent announcement that the BBC will be disbanding the BBC Singers, and the BBC Concert Orchestra, Philharmonic Orchestra and Symphony Orchestra will face 20% role reductions. They discuss what makes the BBC Singers unique, what...
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S3 Episode 10: Three things we're fighting for
Just like that, we’ve come to the end of Season 3 of the podcast! From the live episode, to the Voice of Black Opera Mini Series, to episodes on boundaries, nepotism and perfectionism, it’s been a total blast. To see you out, this week Alex and Helen discuss the three things they’re fighting for…
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S3 Episode 9: Perfectionism
This week Alex and Helen discuss the pros and cons of perfectionism. For many artists the desire to create perfection can be overwhelming. Perfectionism can have many benefits including producing work of a high standard, committing to a project with passion and motivation and inspiring others....
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S3 Episode 8: Fear culture
This week we discuss the fear culture which pervades the opera industry and how we can take care of ourselves in these situations. Performance Anxiety We are singers and performers because we love sharing the joy of making good music; however, in certain situations (such as high pressured...
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S3 Epiosde 7: Nepotism
We all want to try and pretend nepotism doesn’t happen in the opera industry but, let’s face it, it does. So, how can you use nepotism to your own advantage? Make your own connections If you’re in a room with someone you want to work with, what’s the harm in having a chat? You don’t have to...
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S3 Episode 6: Can we separate work from politics?
This week Alex and Helen debate a big question which often plagues the arts: can we separate our work from politics? In this episode they discuss the three following questions: Can we put our opinions aside to perform music by people whose views we disagree with? Can we put our opinions aside to...
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VOBO Mini-series Day 3: Chantelle Grant
Finalist in the Voice of Black Opera Competition 2022, Chantelle Grant sits down with Helen and Alex to talk about the experience of performing in such a prestigious competition, how she feels performing Wagner and Strauss and what it’s like to walk onto the stage at The Metropolitan Opera. If…
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VOBO Mini-series Day 2: Thando Mjandana
Finalist in the Voice of Black Opera 2022 Competition, Thando Mjandana, joins Helen and Alex to talk about how he handles nerves, looking forward to the competition final, future roles he’s excited by and how he got into singing in the first place. For more on Thando, check out his: Agency…
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VOBO Mini-series Day 1: Vincent Osborne
To kick-start our mini series on the Voice of Black Opera (VOBO) 2022 Competition we were delighted to be joined by the competition’s founder, Vincent Osborne. In this episode we discuss what Vincent is looking forward to in the competition, why he established both this competition and the Black...
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S3 Episode 5: Singers and instrumentalists with special guest Keval Shah
Alex and Helen were delighted to welcome esteemed colleague and old friend Keval Shah onto the podcast to discuss the similarities and differences between singers and instrumentalists. Keval is an internationally recognised pianist who has worked with many world-renowned singers, making him a...
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S3 Episode 4: Being a singer is harder than it looks
This week Alex and Helen discuss five main points surrounding an age-old controversy: how being a singer is much harder than it looks. Encouraged to make it look effortless Singers are constantly encouraged to make their performances look as elegant and graceful as possible (a particular gripe…
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S3 Episode 3: Standing up for yourself
This week Alex and Helen each share two personal stories where they made a decision to stand up for themselves in the industry. These stories discuss issues of pay, issues of respect/disrespect and issues of sexism. Alex and Helen hope that in sharing these stories, they can encourage you to…
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S3 Episode 2: Breakdowns
With a brand new season comes a lot of new changes: We are really specialising now, talking to that core audience (of approximately 2 people?!) about the world of OPERA and what things are like backstage. Episodes will be coming out EVERY WEEK! We’re delighted to be introducing a brand new…
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LIVE EPISODE: Mental Health in the Opera Industry
Where’s My Freaking Dressing Room?! hosted their first ever live episode recording as part of Opera Prelude’s OperaWorks conference day. This episode focusses on mental health in the opera industry, however, before getting into the heart of that discussion, the podcast wished to address the...
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BONUS EPISODE: Interview with Larkhall
Alex and Helen were delighted to sit down with new media artist, composer and pianist Larkhall to talk about his latest album: Say You’re With Me. Written during the arrival of his second son when Larkhall realised he was suffering from depression, Say You’re With Me explores his journey of...
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Mental Health Week Day 5: Distorted Self-Image
In the final episode of our Mental Health Week Mini Series Alex and Helen talk about Distorted Self-Image and how they find ways to deal with this in their day to day lives. Being over-critical Alex and Helen recognise Distorted Self-Image as not seeing things as they truly are. Oftentimes this…
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Mental Health Week Day 4: Living in London with Helen Lacey
In Day 4 of our Mental Health Week Mini Series we’re joined by soprano Helen Lacey who tells us about her experience of moving to London after finishing her undergraduate degree at the Royal Northern College of Music. We discuss leaving conservatoire and the challenge of managing your own time.…
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Mental Health Week Day 3: Depression
On Day 3 of this Mental Health Week Mini Series Alex and Helen discuss depression and three ways they find depression exhibits itself in their lives. Lack of Motivation Alex and Helen recognise that as two people that are often quite goal-focussed and driven, it can be scary to be in a period of...
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Mental Health Week Day 2: Inner Calm with Quintin Beer
Today Helen and Alex are joined by Quintin Beer to discuss Inner Calm, in particular through the methods of Meditation, Nature and Therapy. Quintin talks openly about not necessarily searching for calm, but instead attempting to achieve a state of balance. Helen and Quintin talk about how they…
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Mental Health Week Day 1: Anxiety
For Day 1 of their Mental Health Week Mini Series Alex and Helen tackle the topic of Anxiety. As two anxious people, they discuss how anxiety exhibits itself most commonly in their lives and how they try to handle it. Over-practicing For both of us over-practicing is a common way our anxiety...
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S2 Episode 17: Building your patchwork quilt career
For the final episode in Series 2 (can you believe it?!) Alex and Helen are honoured to be joined by good friend and esteemed colleague, Richard Robbins. Richard is an in-demand tenor who has soloed with ensembles such as The Southbank Sinfonia and the Academy of Ancient Music; he is a City Music...
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S2 Episode 16: Working abroad
This week Alex and Helen have a laugh discussing what it's like to study and work abroad. Alex has extensive experience performing across Italy and in September 2021 Helen moved to Switzerland to join the Swiss Opera Studio programme. The pair talk language barriers, finding common ground, how...
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S2 Episode 15: Image and the industry
Opera as an art form requires our imagination. Whether we be entering into the world of Die Walküre, The Cunning Little Vixen or Tosca, each opera asks us to leave behind the every day and suspend our belief. Why is it, then, that singers often face visual discrimination? Time and again singers…
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S2 Episode 14: Singing and Your Diet
This week Alex and Helen mythbust some of the common misconceptions surrounding diet and singing. Caffeine A huge topic in the vocal world, there are many conversations about caffeine being a vocal irritant, drying out the cords and preventing healthy singing. Mythbust: It’s important to remember...
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S2 Episode 13: Money. There. We said it.
Nobody likes talking about it, Alex and Helen certainly don't like talking about it, but in this episode they get into the uncomfortable topic of money. Money is hard to come by in the arts. From the start of education to attempting to make a stable living, we all know how it feels to worry about...
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S2 E12: January self-care package
New year, same dressing room, and this week Alex and Helen have a double bill for you. To start, they discuss the seasonal nature of the career as a performer and how it often involves intense periods of work (like Christmas!) followed by intense periods of quiet (did someone say January blues?)....
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S2 Episode 11: Time to hit the refresh button
It's our last episode of the year so we decided to take a look back at the New Year's Resolutions we made back in series 1 on the pod in January and see whether we stuck to any of them or just totally ignored them. Before we get started don’t forget to tag us on social media #AlexSimpsonFail and...
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S2 Episode 10: Rejections
It's Christmastime, for many performers it's audition time, which also means it's acceptance/rejection time. Performers in the creative industries have to audition for opportunities in order to further their careers, and it's likely that for every ten auditions a performer does only one of those...
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S2 Episode 9: Managing your Christmas diary
The days are getting shorter, the weather is getting colder and it's almost an acceptable time of year to be eating mince pies which can only mean one thing: Christmas is on its way! There's no denying that for singers and performers Christmas is an intense period of time including carol…
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S2 Episode 8: Crises of Confidence
Although we don't care to admit it, almost all artists experience crises of confidence. From panicking during the final minutes before you go on stage, to experiencing a few weeks feeling slightly under the weather, crises of confidence can affect us in many different ways. This week Alex and…
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S2 Episode 7: Auditions - what they don't tell you
With the Christmas audition season just around the corner Alex and Helen thought it was about time they revisited this topic. In this week's episode they discuss the advice they wish they'd been given before they started auditioning for music college. Alex and Helen talk about travel plans, how…
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S2 Episode 6: One Year Anniversary Dinner Party
To celebrate the first anniversary of 'Where's My Freaking Dressing Room?!' Alex and Helen decided to organise a dinner party and were delighted to be joined by their close friend and food and fine-wine enthusiast, Henrietta Gullifer. Having trained at Leith's Cookery School and worked at Berry...
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S2 Episode 5: Pressure
There are three ps that come with a career in music and no, we don't mean pianississimo! Practice. Performance. Pressure. In every aspect of a musician's career there is an undeniable element of pressure. This week Alex and Helen dig into the different types of pressure musicians experience, from...
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S2 Episode 4: New Horizons
Every September Alex and Helen get that same ‘back to school’ feeling. For Helen, it’s a period of excitement as she buys far too much stationery and looks forward to getting stuck in to a new artistic year. For Alex, it’s a period of dread as he realises the summer is waning and winter is on its...
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S2 Episode 3: Contacts
This week Alex and Helen discuss how to make the most of your contacts. The classical music industry is a small, small world. No matter where you go or what you do, everyone seems to know everyone! Alex and Helen talk about both the pros and cons of this intimate and well-connected industry, but...
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S2 Episode 2: The Inner Critic
As musicians and performers we are trained throughout our careers to develop a critical ear, one that can assess the quality of a performance and decide what needs to be worked on in order to improve and progress. However, although this critical ear is a vital tool in our industry, it can also be...
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S2 Episode 1: Things we learnt from the Euros
Most people think that football and classical music have nothing in common. Alex and Helen are here to debunk that myth, opening series 2 of 'Where's My Freaking Dressing Room?!' with an episode on the recent football-mania which engulfed England over the course of the Euros. Helen was exposed to...
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How Coronavirus and the Black Lives Matter movement has affected the operatic industry in the UK
SPECIAL EDITION EPISODE! This week Helen is taking over the podcast to present the research project she's been working on over the last year: "As I hope many of our regular listeners know, one of the main aims of Where's My Freaking Dressing Room?! is to provide an open and honest account of what...
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Episode 17: Agents
This week Alex and Helen tackle the mysterious topic of classical music agents. They discuss the unusual aura which surrounds agencies and artist agents, in particular how difficult it can be to contact them. They talk about the need to be shrewd when entering into a contract with any agency,...
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Episode 16: Life after music college
With summer fast approaching Alex and Helen discuss a topic very much on Helen's mind, life after music college. With Helen graduating from conservatoire this summer, in this episode she talks about her hopes and fears for the months ahead and Alex discusses his approach towards time management…
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Episode 15: Choral singing vs Solo singing
We've gone niche this week and we discuss a divide in our industry that we are both acutely aware of: the world of choral singing vs the world of solo singing. As two singers who were raised in the choral tradition we both love performing in choirs and understand the variety of skills needed to…
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Episode 14: Boundaries
(Warning: strap in for this one. We had a lot of caffeine before we recorded so things move pretty quick!) Throughout the course of the pandemic we've been aware of friends and colleagues reflecting on their careers and re-assessing their lives in the creative industries. As a result of that…
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Episode 13: The Portfolio Career
In this episode Alex and Helen discuss the benefits of having a portfolio career. Alex explains how he developed his career; starting off as a singer, building a stable career as a tutor whilst at music college and then launching his life coaching business during the 2020 lockdown. Helen talks...
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Episode 12: The Roaring 20s
We are BACK and this week we discuss what we think the future of the arts might look like as things re-open following our winter lockdown. To no one's surprise, Alex has compared this time to 'The Great Depression', worrying that with fewer organisations able to put on concerts and events,...
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Episode 11: Injury and Illness
Alex and Helen tackle a topic which is incredibly important to them both. Injury and illness are inevitable in the career of a professional musician, however, the music industry can be known for adopting an insensitive approach when artists become unwell. Alex and Helen use this episode to share...
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Episode 10: Who's your singing teacher?
Alex and Helen both understand how crucial the right teacher is to any singer's career, no matter what stage. This week they discuss your experiences and stories (told anonymously, of course) with regards to the tricky world of singing teachers. They explore the cult-like behaviour which can...
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Episode 9: The Online Package
Alexander and Helen have realised that being a classical musician in 2021 means having to face those things they've been desperate to avoid: 'The Online Package'. This week Helen and Alex chat about how they curated their headshots, how they designed (or have avoided designing) their websites and...
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Episode 8: Auditions and Competitions
This week Helen and Alexander dive into the world of auditions and competitions, in particular the new frontier of recording audition and competition videos. They talk about becoming audition video director, producer, sound engineer and editor and the new set of challenges audition videos…
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Episode 7: New Year's Resolutions
Alexander and Helen are back and starting the new year by sharing their New Year resolutions. No, they're not talking about losing weight or learning a new language, instead they discuss how they're trying to make the most of things in these difficult times. Where's My Freaking Dressing Room?!…
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Episode 6: The Christmas Special
An episode that needs no description nor introduction. Alexander and Helen love everything about Christmas: the mulled wine, the carols, the parties and of course, the Christmas cake! Join them as they talk about some of their favourite (and not so favourite) Christmas experiences. Don't forget…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
A classical music podcast inviting you backstage for those conversations which only really take place behind dressing room doors. Two young singers discuss the world of classical music and what things are really like behind the scenes.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
HOSTED BY
Alexander Simpson & Helen Daniels
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Where's My Freaking Dressing Room?! have?
Where's My Freaking Dressing Room?! currently has 55 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Where's My Freaking Dressing Room?! about?
A classical music podcast inviting you backstage for those conversations which only really take place behind dressing room doors. Two young singers discuss the world of classical music and what things are really like behind the scenes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
How often does Where's My Freaking Dressing Room?! release new episodes?
Where's My Freaking Dressing Room?! has 55 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Where's My Freaking Dressing Room?!?
You can listen to Where's My Freaking Dressing Room?! on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Where's My Freaking Dressing Room?!?
Where's My Freaking Dressing Room?! is created and hosted by Alexander Simpson & Helen Daniels.
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