The enormity of the history that surrounds tenor Alasdair Kent as he does the interview with STM would have previously terrified him when he was an opera student with big dreams.
The WA Academy of Performing Arts graduate is in Naples, Italy to perform as Marzio in a season of Mozart’s Mitridate, Re di Ponto at Teatro di San Carlo, the oldest continually active opera venue in the world.
On his way to the venue this morning, he walked past the former residence of Domenico Barbaia, the famed intendant of the Teatro di San Carlo back in the time when Italian composer Gioachino Rossini was writing for the opera house.
“You don’t have time to stop and think about the reputation of the theatre or the weight of its history,” 39-year-old Kent explains.
“It’s all about the nuts and bolts of doing the job. Being on the inside of the music, putting one note after the other. . . and bringing the character to life in exactly the way that you want to, that the music asks and that the director has asked of you.
“It occupies 100 per cent of my concentration, so when I’m on stage, I don’t have the ability to think about anything else.”
Based in Basel, the German-speaking part of Switzerland and a 10-minute drive across the border to France, leaves Kent forever grateful for the range of foreign languages he diversified in during additional studies at the University of WA, speaking and singing in them on a near daily basis.
Kent spent his formative years growing up in Mt Lawley and East Fremantle, where he attended Aranmore Catholic College until Year 5 before transferring to Aquinas College where his talent for classical voice was soon discovered.
He started singing in the WA Opera Chorus during his second year at WAAPA, the 19-year-old Kent soaking up the experience, reflecting “there’s no substitute for actually doing the job and seeing singers in flight on stage”.
Further training included Queensland Conservatorium and the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia before Kent began his career as a freelancing professional tenor in 2017, returning home in 2025 to make his WA Opera lead role debut as Frederic in The Pirates Of Penzance, directed by Stuart Maunder.
“Everyone was absolutely perfect for their roles, and I do not anticipate having that much fun on stage ever again,” he states.
Fun certainly would not be the first word that comes to mind for describing his next character, as Kent rejoins WA Opera for the company’s season of composer Charles Gounod’s Romeo Et Juliette, an opera adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragic love story.
Kent is Romeo opposite soprano Samantha Clarke as Juliette in the French-sung production, directed by Rodula Gaitanou, with set and costumes by designer Takis.
“This is the first time I’m singing Romeo and there’s a lot to grapple with here,” he admits.
“You get a bit of the sense of the conflict between the two families in the operatic version but a lot of the events outside of what happens between Romeo and Juliette themselves are condensed and not given too much musical time.
“The real core of the opera is the relationship between Romeo and Juliette. I’ve heard the opera described before as a series of love duets or as one long love duet between these two people, and that really is true.
“Certainly in Acts One, Two, Four and Five, it’s pretty much going to be Samantha Clarke and I on stage giving our all.”
The co-production from WA Opera, State Opera South Australia and Irish National Opera presents the famous tragedy of love and family conflict in what Kent describes as a faithful translation of the English playwright’s work set in Verona.
“I found it interesting that there are many places where it is a direct translation of Shakespeare’s texts,” he explains.
“French is a notoriously difficult language to sing because you have some very specific sounds, and the contrast between these sounds can happen very quickly. In some ways, it’s maybe the most difficult language to sing in.”
Like any role he undertakes, preparation is not only about Kent’s voice but also his physical fitness, which has seen him weightlifting since his early 20s. He finds it also anchors the various demands of his day.
“My body is my instrument, not just my voice, so it’s important I keep myself in a certain level of fitness or ability to run around on stage,” he says.
“We’re artists, but we’re also athletes. I’ve found it’s good for me to have this physical activity that I can kind of check in with, no matter where I am in the world.
“It’s also good for my head, for my sanity, to be able to switch off sometimes and leave the world of music, to do something physical for an hour, an hour and a half a day.”
While travelling so much for his career can be a mixed bag, Kent‘s European proximity to the Champagne region has become a definite perk for his palate, and one he continues even when back in Perth, with a trip to Wine Loft at Boatshed Market, paired with the beach.
“There’s nothing more Perth or more WA than watching the sunset over the Indian Ocean,” he muses.
“There’s a point after the sun goes down where the ocean just turns this silvery colour, and it just feels like home.”
Bubbles and the beach are a rather ideal juxtaposition to represent Kent’s career, which he says is a weird combination of the absolute high art and then the complete day-to-day mundane of life admin.
“I think a lot of people find opera to be almost snooty or snobby and it has all of these connotations or these associations with luxury,” he shares.
“But if you come backstage and meet the singers who are working there, we are absolutely ordinary, everyday, working-class people just getting the job done. It’s nowhere near as luxurious as it is in front of the stage.”
WA Opera’s Romeo Et Juliette is at His Majesty’s Theatre, October 15 to 24. Tickets at waopera.asn.au.
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