Avid for diva show that’s even better than before

Apr 24 2008 by David Whetstone, The Journal

Viva La Diva is back. Daniel Thomson talks to opera superstar Katherine Jenkins about her spectacular new tour.

THE definition of a diva is a woman of extraordinary and rare talent. Katherine Jenkins certainly fits that description, but thankfully she doesn’t seem to have any of the negative traits associated with the word.

Unlike other well-known divas, I find her to be humble, honest and completely down to earth, which makes the story of how a Welsh choirgirl became an opera superstar all the more amazing.

“I have to pinch myself every day just to make sure it’s all real,” she says with a laugh. “It really has been like a fairytale and I’m just so grateful to be doing something I love.”

Next Tuesday, Katherine will take to the stage with prima ballerina Darcey Bussell for their Viva La Diva show, a spectacular celebration of the icons who inspired them.

After the success of last year’s tour (which came to The Sage Gateshead), this year’s Viva La Diva is bigger than ever and kicks off at Newcastle’s Metro Radio Arena.

“We’re starting the new tour in Newcastle on April 29 and I can’t wait,” Katherine says excitedly. “I love working with Darcey and the show is so much fun. It’s so different to what I usually do and it’s been a great challenge to step out of my comfort zone.

“I’m so used to being on stage by myself with only an orchestra or band behind me, so to share the spotlight with someone is really fun.”

New scenes have been added to the song and dance extravaganza for the new tour, as Katherine explains.

“We had to adapt the show for an arena tour and this included adding some new scenes as well as making the old ones bigger and better.

“One of the new influences I’ve been able to add is Edith Piaf, who I’ve loved for a long time, while Darcey has introduced a sequence inspired by Fred Astaire.

“The show is vibrant and high energy and everything is on a bigger scale.”

Directed by Kim Gavin, who has worked with the likes of Take That, Viva La Diva has seen the mezzo-soprano put through her paces as a dancer for the first time.

Katherine says: “It’s been hard and I’ve had to get really fit, but I’ve really enjoyed learning all the dancing and choreography.”

Born in Neath, South Wales, Katherine’s musical talents were evident from an early age.

By the age of seven, she was taking piano lessons and had joined the local choir, and by her mid-teens she had twice won the Radio 2 Welsh Choirgirl of the Year competition.

At 17, she won a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music in London and graduated with honours before singing in front of Pope John Paul II at Westminster Cathedral a few years later.

She signed a record deal when she was 23 and has spent the past four years playing the biggest venues in the world including the Sydney Opera House, the Royal Albert Hall and Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium.

“It’s just been a manic few years,” she says. “But I’m totally oblivious to it most of the time.

“Just the other day I was coming out of a restaurant and there were about 20 paparazzi and for a few seconds I was thinking, ‘I wonder who they’re here for?’ It just didn’t occur to me that they were there for me.”

Now 27, Katherine has recently released her autobiography, Time to Say Hello, and has her sights set on conquering America in the next few years.

“One of the reasons I wrote the book was that I was getting lots of letters from young girls who were going through similar experience to those I went through as a teenager.

“I lost my dad to cancer when I was 15 and I wanted to help other people going through the same thing. I was also getting a lot of letters from young singers who wanted to know how I got started and the book felt like another good way of helping to give advice.”

After this year’s Viva La Diva tour wraps up, Katherine is planning a series of summer concerts throughout the UK and will be putting the finishing touches to her sixth album.

Darcey Bussell and Katherine Jenkins’s Viva La Diva is at Newcastle’s Metro Radio Arena on April 29. For tickets, tel: 0844 493 6666.