CAMI slept through the whole concert – my reputation went up in flames that day
Despite one minor setback, Mary Bevan’s experience with music at Cambridge convinced her that it could one day become her career.
The Magic Flute, Act 2: Behold, the harbinger of morning
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sir Charles Mackerras, London Philharmonic Orchestra and Three Boys, 2005
I got involved with the Cambridge University Opera Society (CUOS) production of The Magic Flute almost as soon as I arrived. It was my first operatic experience at the University, and it was incredible – I met people that I still work with now, including Allan Clayton (St John’s 2000) who became a very good friend. He was singing the main role, Tamino, and I was in the chorus, but I remember thinking that, one day, I really wanted to sing Pamina to his Tamino. Four years later, I did! It was a wonderful way to settle into Cambridge life and it was perhaps the first time it clicked in my brain that maybe – maybe – one day I could do this as a job.
Ave Maria, Op. 9b Gustav Holst
Graham Ross and The Bevan Family, 2023
In my third term, Dan Hyde (King’s 2000), who is now Director of Music at King’s, arranged a big concert with some of the best female voices across the whole University – sopranos and altos from all the College choirs. I was in the University Chamber Choir and was asked to participate, which was a big honour. I was given the very top line in Ave Maria, a very high-pressure piece. We rehearsed for weeks and weeks, but the concert was scheduled for the day after May Week Sunday. I went to bed at 5am on Monday morning, woke up at 2pm and found 18 missed calls on my phone. I’d slept through the whole concert. I’m pretty sure my reputation went up in flames from that day, and it made me realise that I could either do a concert or go out and have fun – but not both. I saw Dan Hyde recently when I came to do a Mozart Requiem at King’s Chapel, and we laughed about it so I think he’s forgiven me. I’ve picked a version performed by my family choir, with me on the top line, but not hungover this time!.
The Marriage of Figaro
Susanna’s Aria Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
By my third year, all my friends were going for all these big jobs in banking and law, and I felt a bit lost. CUOS were putting on The Marriage of Figaro, and I got the main role, Susanna, and I threw everything I had into it. We had rehearsals every day, and I could feel the improvement happening in real time. On the opening night, I remember just feeling so at home on stage, it felt like I’d clicked into doing exactly what I wanted to do. I didn’t miss going out and having fun because I was having so much fun as a singer. It was a massive turning point, and I never looked back.
Heartbeat
Annie (Anniemal, 2004)
Nobody has heard of this song except me! It’s just a great pop song from the 2000s and I don’t even know how it came onto my radar. It was always the song my friends and I listened to when we were getting ready for a girls’ night out. Nobody had any money, so we’d buy a bottle of cava for £7 and then let everyone know: “Cava reception tonight at 7!”
British soprano Mary Bevan (Trinity 2003) is internationally renowned in baroque, classical and contemporary repertoire and appears regularly with leading conductors, orchestras and ensembles around the world. She is a winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Young Artist Award and UK Critics’ Circle Award for Exceptional Young Talent in music and was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s birthday honours list in 2019.
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