David Butt Philip: ‘Be led by your voice’

You transitioned from baritone to tenor in your late twenties. How did you know it was time for this change?

My voice told me! As a very high baritone, it was something I had considered before. Then, in the two years after I finished college, the colour and placement of my voice changed significantly. It got to the point where I couldn’t ignore it any longer.

This change took place while you were singing in the Glyndebourne chorus. What sort of challenges did you encounter when navigating this transition while working full-time?

I was very lucky that Glyndebourne were so enthusiastic about the idea. I knew deep down that it was the right decision, but when they agreed to have me back in the chorus as a tenor, that removed most of the risk from the decision. I used the three-month gap between the winter tour and the start of rehearsals for the festival in the spring to work intensively with my new teacher (the late Ryland Davies) and then away I went! I was still very much finding my feet for the rest of that year, but my friends and colleagues at Glyndebourne could not have been more supportive. It was actually very exciting!

What advice would you offer young vocalists who might be facing a similar turning point in their craft?

I get asked about this a lot, especially by male singers in their twenties, who feel that their voice is changing, which is very common. It’s an incredibly personal thing, and you have to make sure you’re listening to the right people, but my main piece of advice would be ‘be led by your voice’. Trust your instincts and the physical sensations you get from singing. It has to be a natural, voice-led decision, rather than a professional or psychological one. In my case, by the time I made the ‘decision’ it really wasn’t a decision anymore. My voice had already changed, and it was waiting for me to catch up!

Lise Davidsen as Leonore, David Butt Philip as Florestan, and René Pape as Rocco in Beethoven's Fidelio ©Karen Almond/Met Opera

Your onstage career began to gain momentum after this switch, and the sort of roles you were cast in changed too – was it difficult to adapt your onstage approach to a new ‘genre’ of character?

It was a challenge of course, but mostly it was incredibly exciting. I had struggled a little to get people to take me seriously in lead roles as a baritone, because I was too boyish and youthful. Suddenly that became an advantage, as I began to be offered romantic lead roles. I started to become much more comfortable in my own skin as a stage performer, which was liberating.

As well as a change in roles, you also changed your repertoire to suit your ‘darker’ tone. Can you talk a bit about what prompted this change and how you approached it?

After a few years of singing mostly Italian and French roles in the UK, I began to audition regularly in Germany and started to get the same feedback repeatedly. They thought the colour of my voice was more suited to German and Slavic repertoire; Wagner, Strauss, Janáček, etc. When I started to experiment with this, it opened up a whole new world of possibilities, and I began to realise that some of these darker, anti-hero characters were a lot of fun to play on stage!

In your upcoming performance in Fidelio at the Met, you play political prisoner Florestan. Do you feel your experience studying politics and philosophy at university has informed your approach to the role?

Well, I wasn’t a very good student of politics and philosophy (I only lasted a year), so I’m not sure how qualified I am to comment on that! But certainly, Fidelio is a deeply political piece and studying it and its historical importance has been fascinating for someone who is very interested in politics!

©Andrew Staples

Your daughter Ellie was born three days after your opening night in Il Tabarro at Opera North. When you returned to the stage for your next performance you told SWAP’ra you hadn’t slept in three days. What do you think could be done to help new parents give their best on stage when their families also demand their attention?

I don’t know really, you just need a good support network around you, but that’s true for any new parent. Certainly, being a freelancer and a parent is challenging, as you’re not entitled to any paid parental leave, so you’re left with a choice of taking time off and not earning any money or going straight back to work. I was relatively lucky, I only had one performance a week for the first few weeks after my first child was born, so I was actually at home most of the time.

You began your music career as a chorister at Peterborough Cathedral. How do you feel your start in choral music has influenced your later career?

I simply wouldn’t be doing what I do without it. My passion for classical music all stems from singing in church choirs when I was a boy, and of course the skills I developed at that age are absolutely invaluable professionally and made me the musician I am today.

In your interview with The Times in July, you said: ‘I’m not sure what career path exists for young British singers anymore.’ What do you think needs to change in order to support the next generation of British talent?

Money, to put it bluntly. If there are no jobs for musicians because the orchestras and opera companies have all been de-funded then those artists will either leave the profession or leave the country and go elsewhere. But before that it all stems from education. If there is little or no music or drama provision in state education then children (especially those from less privileged backgrounds) are simply not exposed to those possibilities and eventually they will become the preserve of a tiny minority. The state of arts education in the UK is absolutely shameful – a completely different world to when I was at school 30 years ago. It’s incredibly sad.

David Butt Philip stars as Florestan in The Metropolitan Opera's production of Fidelio, which will be available in cinemas from 15 March.