With 2024 coming to an end, we celebrate the musical journey of our AIR Artist Hugh Cutting, as he wraps up his residency with the AIR Program. Over the past year, Hugh has reached significant milestones, and experienced impressive growth in his musical career.
In this interview, he reflects on the highlights of his residency, the ways the AIR Program supported his ambitions, and the learnings and valuable advice that shaped his path.
— What was the highlight of your year?
I think this would have to be singing ‘The Boy’ for the first time in George Benjamin’s opera Written on Skin, with George himself conducting. This is my absolute FAVOURITE role (certainly in the top 3), and George himself is a wonderful and generous person. The music of that opera is so, so fascinating and chilling, and the process of discovering a very twisted and dangerous character was really fun. My highlight is probably that, and meeting the sun bears at Taronga Zoo in Sydney is a close second.
— What were the milestones you have achieved in 2024?
There are lots of debuts that are essentially boring to mention but are important for a CV and for fans who want to know what’s going on: operatic debuts at La Scala and in Sydney with Pinchgut opera, solo recital debuts at Carnegie Hall in New York, the Paris Philharmonie, Wigmore Hall in London, and Palais Montcalme in Quebec City, performing concerts with The EnglishConcert, Les Arts Florissants, Les Violons du Roy, The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Collegium Vocale Gent, Il Pomo D’Oro, Orchestra of St Luke’s New York, Wiener Symphoniker, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Stavanger Symfonierkester, and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra.
But in terms of more interesting personal milestones, I think the main thing I’m happy with now is the breadth of work I do, and the variety; I love being on stage in an opera or concert, but I’ve especially appreciated the more intimate recital work I’ve done because it’s been so personal. Much of my brain space is taken up (happily!) with programme ideas for the future audiences of classical music, and so having opportunities to explore these is almost what I crave the most at the moment.
I’m thrilled to have a close link with the BBC as one of their New Generation Artists, and I now have a growing association with the Wigmore Hall in London; I’m going to be curating a residency there in 2025/26, and that’s a really significant milestone for me because of what it represents in terms of my work as a programmer. I’m wanting to try new and experimental song programmes, not for their own sake, but for the impact I hope they can have on the audiences of tomorrow. The world of song and lieder is vast and has so many possibilities to explore our humanity, and that’s what I want to do most going forward – for example, I have a deep love of the music of John Denver and was recently performing him alongside some Debussy and Piers Connor Kennedy which I’d commissioned specifically for this programme about the nature of Time. This is a way to bring disparate audiences together, I think, and in doing so illustrates the different strengths and beauties of things as far apart as American country music and French chanson from the nineteenth century.
— Did you take any risk this year? How did that turn out?
I’ve worked a lot this year and will have done 5 opera productions in the space of 12 months, not to mention the recital and concert work that comes around this. This is a type of risk because you’re having to prepare music and roles in quick succession – but it’s always calculated. I guess it’s important to me that I do take this kind of risk now so that I might know my capabilities for the future in terms of balancing my diary and engagements – especially at this stage when I don’t have any children or real responsibilities.
Other than that, I suppose we always try and take risks in performance with the actual interpretation of the music itself; this is important for me because it ensures I’m always trying to be present within the performance and living the emotion of the piece. I have a big fear of plateauing; I can already see how easy it is, once you have certain contacts and have done a few things in the industry, to stop developing as a performer, and I really want to rail against that for my own sake – I’ve got plenty to learn and develop and grow into yet, obviously, and staying aware of that and humble in the face of it is the only way to make sure you’re serving the music and characters you’re performing.
— What has been a key learning during the year?
Because I’ve done so much work this year and worked with so many different people from all around the world, I think I’ve first of all gained a lot of perspective on the work that I actually want to do going forward. I’ve also come to this realization that the best work you do, the most fulfilling and rewarding work you do, can come from anywhere: it could come from a famous opera house or actually from something which is not that well-known or not in the most famous venue. I’m convinced that music and artistry is not confined by those things. And it’s important because people sometimes have this image of opera with these huge, luxurious buildings hosting singers with big diva personalities. You might think that the best work can be found there, but I don’t believe that it is necessarily the case. The thing I have learned, is that it’s really the people involved in a production that make it top quality in terms of art, it has nothing to do with the venue, or the name of the orchestra, of the conductor, or of the singers. What’s important is actually how you come together as a company, and how you work to show the audience what it is to be a human being.
— How did the AIR Program support your musical journey?
I was thrilled to record a debut recital disc this year with my long-term mentor and friend Audrey Hyland; from a very practical point of view, the funding from my residency was crucial to the recording of this CD. Beyond this, brainstorming concert and performance ideas with the AIR team has been and will continue to be central to what I want to do going forward in relation to Bergos, so I’m hopeful that this is not the end of our working relationship. In particular, the notion of working with other creatives from different disciplines (dance, theatre, the visual arts) is very exciting, and I know that the team are keen to explore this in the future…watch this space!
— The best piece of advice you’ve received this year?
Make sure you have a life outside of your career; if the arts are meant to mirror life and our understanding of it, how can we be interesting and incisive performers if all we know is work?! The emotions and experiences you put forward in a performance have to come from somewhere, and having enough distance from your career also means you can enjoy it more when you come back to it.
— What are your next steps now that the residency is ending?
I’m thrilled with the operatic work I have on the horizon, which includes debuts in London, Berlin, Munich, Dallas, and Santa Fe; in January I’ll be recording with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, in October 2025 Audrey and I will be launching our recital disc on Linn Records, I have a series of concerts that I am curating at the Wigmore Hall in London, I’ll be touring Handel’s Theodora with Jupiter ensemble alongside Lea Dessandre and Veronique Gens in the autumn, and then touring the USA with a programme of classical arias from Gluck and Mozart with the Irish Baroque Orchestra. Most especially, I get to continuing building meaningful programmes that are really personal to me, such as one with my tenor brother Guy Cutting, and another that moves into the world of dance and the visual arts… I’m a lucky boy!
— To conclude, any tip for our next AIR Artist?
Be genuine, find the specific reason that you are an artist and hold onto it; everything else is passing, everything else is transitory in this business – that love of what you do is the thing that will truly sustain you mentally, and probably financially to as you line up work for yourself that feeds your artistic soul. And be diligent, don’t try and take shortcuts in this modern age of image and quick fixes. I don’t think that being an artist is about being famous or having people look at you, it should be about you working to find things out about yourself and humanity FOR yourself and any human who wants to take an interest, I think that’s true art – it’s not about showing off!
As Hugh’s journey with the AIR Program comes to an end, we can’t wait to see what’s next for him and what he will achieve in the future.
Are you a dedicated artist with the same passion as Hugh? Applications for the 2025 Bergos AIR Program are open until January 1st, so don’t miss your chance to take your music to the next level. Head to our website to apply!
As community leader of Next Passion, Nolwenn helps the Bergos Next Community members tap into their inner drive and dive into what they love.