I’m a self-employed musician with a mortgage to pay. Why have I and so many of my colleagues been abandoned by the government?
As lockdown 2.0 sets in, the contrast with how I felt in March and the first lockdown is stark. Back then I’d say I was bordering on being burned out. I had barely slowed down for five years. This time last year I was performing in Emma Rice’s production of Orpheus in the Underworld at English National Opera, immediately after which a series of concerts in December took me to Manchester, Sicily, Dubai, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Turin, Seville, Budapest and Luxembourg. I was singing different pieces in each concert, works in German, Latin, Italian and French. Some
music I was learning for the first time, something I’ve become adept at doing quickly and while on the move.
I didn’t see my son for three weeks – which felt awful, plus I missed all that wonderful run-up to
Christmas. I remember thinking I had planned it badly and vowed not to overwork like this in the future.