Performing Hamlet on stage at the Sydney Opera House is in stark contrast to singing Christmas carols in suburban Canberra, but Lorina Gore is comfortable doing both.
The former Canberran and current star soprano with Opera Australia always returns to the national capital to sing on Christmas Eve at a community event in Hawker, visiting family, including father-in-law Colin Steele, a former head librarian at the Australian National University.
And that won't change, even as she prepares to take on the role of Ophelia, the love interest of Hamlet, this season at the Sydney Opera House starting July 20.
Lorina first performed the role of Ophelia in the work in 2018 at the Adelaide Festival. Her performance was variously described as transfixing, mesmerising and spellbinding and won her a second Helpmann Award.
'I practise my singing while I'm on the treadmill'
Composed by Australian Brett Dean and directed by Neil Armfield, this version of Hamlet is the only Australian opera performed at the Metropolitan Opera of New York.
And it is not for the faint-hearted - either cast or audience.
"It's the hardest thing I've ever had to sing in my entire life," Lorina said.
"The music is so complex, but it is the most rewarding, artistically and creatively. It's just the most incredible piece. It's like a piece of art with music. The music really serves the drama. It's an amazing reimagining of Hamlet. It's based on Shakespeare but it's been adapted for the stage to be an opera.
"The cast is extraordinary. Allan Clayton in the title role is one of the best singers I've ever worked with and [a great] actor as well. He's not just a singer, he's an actor. It's really riveting to see this story unfold on the stage.
"It's also very physically challenging. I have a mad scene as Ophelia. So in my apartment in Sydney I've found a gym to keep my fitness up and I also practise my singing while I'm on the treadmill so that I can that ability to sing and run - which is what I have to do on the stage.
"Most of the time I'm in there by myself. I'm a night person - I run at ridiculous hours of the night when no one else is awake."
An accidental opera singer
Lorina spent most of her teenage and young adulthood in Canberra. Her dad was in the army, her mum a midwife and the family lived on the Duntroon base.
She went to Daramalan College and then the ANU School of Music for five years.
"I remember scraping the ice off my car before going to university," she said, with a laugh.
She also recalls "when I was little, I never stopped singing. I was always singing around the house".
"I originally wanted to do musical theatre so I did a lot of productions with the Canberra Philharmonic Society. I did The Mikado, Fiddler on the Roof, Chicago, 42nd Street, a whole bunch of them. But there was no musical theatre school in Canberra, so that's why I went to the classical school, just to a good technique, and accidentally ended up becoming an opera singer."
Now married to Jonathan Steele, a teacher's aide, the family is based in Kangaroo Valley. They have a 15-year-old son.
Hamlet also features another School of Music alumnus, Catherine Carby, now based on London, who plays Gertrude.
"It's just a really interesting night in the theatre," Lorina said.
"Probably quite different to any other opera you might see. It's one of those once in a lifetime opportunities."
- Hamlet is at the Sydney Opera House from July 20 to August 9.
