From lockdown London to summer in Dunedin – Jonathan Lemalu happy to be home and planning a concert tour

Thursday 18 March 2021 10:53am

Jonathan Lemalu

Since speaking with international opera star and Otago alumnus Jonathan Lemalu for the following story, he and his family have returned to Dunedin to spend time with family until the end of June.

After leaving quarantine on 14 February, Jonathan, Sandra and their children Josh and Arabella have been busy settling into life in Dunedin, and Jonathan is in the process of planning a national concert tour.

His first engagement after six months of “silence” however was a surprise performance at the University of Otago graduation ceremony on 12 March, where he sang two pieces from Aaron Copland's Old American Songbook – At the River and Zion's Walls, in honour of outgoing Vice-Chancellor Professor Harlene Hayne.

“I didn't realise only a very small handful of people knew I was coming, and that cloak and dagger made it a lot of fun – there were rumours that Vice-Chancellor Hayne was going to sing herself, to which I would have been more than happy to have been a back-up singer!”

Jonathan's solo Dunedin concert date is set for the afternoon of Sunday 9 May at the Dunedin Town Hall, with pianist Otago Blair Professor of Music Terence Dennis.

“The concert will include favourite pieces of song and opera which I regularly perform at the opera houses and concert halls of the world,” Jonathan says. He's also planning a concert tour to Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin, with correlating masterclasses at all the tertiary institutes in those cities. “It's a huge undertaking on many levels but an important part of my desire to perform and work with singers who too have been affected by COVID-19.”

He says the children have settled in well to school and kindergarten, but he and Sandra still feel a little “in transit” as they continue to have busy schedules of clients and students they work with regularly online in London, meaning they're sometimes up until 4am, or begin their day at 6am.

“We are conscious to enjoy ourselves and each other in this 'normality,” he says.  “To eat and caffeinate out, to meet close friends, to speak to parents at kindy, to attend futsal games, to get to the beach and the swimming pool, have a haircut that isn't done by Sandra (no disrespect!), to move freely is still something we're coming to grips with.

“We are overwhelmingly grateful to be here, and that has not changed or lessened.  We know how fortunate we are. Dunedin and New Zealand has embraced us. We really appreciate this.”

Read more about the impact of the pandemic on Jonathan and his family's life in London, and on his career and how he responded to the challenges:

Creating his own stage

On a Zoom call from London just before Christmas, Jonathan Lemalu doesn't hesitate when it comes to describing the impact of COVID-19 on his career, his family and his health.

“It's been brutal. There's no other way to put it really. It seems like this year has been going on forever,” says Jonathan, who lost all his contracts and engagements from March 2020 onwards, as the pandemic closed theatres and opera houses around the globe.

“We're exhausted as a family more than ever before. I feel like we've just been through the grinder, physically, emotionally and mentally.”

Jonathan with his family Joshua, Sandra and Arabella

In April Jonathan, his wife Sandra Martinović, a Croatian-born counsellor, and their two children Joshua and Arabella, all contracted COVID-19. Sandra was worst hit, with paramedics having to be called when she experienced breathing difficulties. Jonathan had a severe fever for six days and the children thankfully had lesser symptoms. He says it's left them with a sense of caution.

“Because unlike chicken pox, once you've had it, it doesn't mean you won't get it again. It's the unknown, medically and mentally, that is hard to deal with.”

In the last year, performers around the world have seen their livelihoods decimated by the pandemic, with crowds and gatherings of all sizes either severely limited or completely banned.

“Income-wise I haven't really worked since March, apart from my teaching. All my performing contracts were cancelled or postponed or just lost.”

Those contracts included concerts with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and Dunedin Symphony Orchestra.

He's hopeful the industry will be able to open up again in the northern spring of 2021, although at the time of speaking he'd heard further lockdowns were on the cards for January (which have subsequently eventuated in the UK), and he wasn't placing any bets on a start-up date.

“I've got a few things coming up in January and February and from spring onwards there are productions in the pipeline, some were postponed from this season and while everyone's remaining optimistic, it won't be real to me until I get on stage with a costume and an audience.”

He says the feeling of being in limbo and not knowing when things will really start up again makes it hard to get motivated to train.

“I remember chatting to a lot of professional singers or artists who said if it's not real they don't prepare for it, which is a really unprofessional way to see it and yet it's interesting when those creative juices aren't confirmed. There isn't the motivation to pore over a score. Normally I learn that role, I perform that role, and I get paid for that role.”

“It's kind of weird, you try to remain optimistic to your students – you can't say 'you have talent and I think you could really do something if we had an industry”

He says he has been lucky to be able to continue to teach song and opera to undergraduate and postgraduate students in his positions as a Professor of Voice at Guildhall School of Music & Drama and his alma mater the Royal College of Music, although that also has its challenges. “It's kind of weird, you try to remain optimistic to your students – you can't say 'you have talent and I think you could really do something if we had an industry'. Young artists' programmes, hole in the wall opera companies you could wet your feet in, they're on hold for various reasons. We're all on hold a bit.”

Mentally, the collapse of the industry and his own work diary has led to some bleak moments.

“It got really dark where you just didn't want to read an email from your agent because inevitably it wasn't good news. There was this tough feeling of losing identity.”

In response, he decided to do something positive for both his work situation and his mental health. In association with The Arts Foundation and NZ arts crowdfunding platform Boosted, he created what he describes as his own work opportunity, a four-part biographical series called Before and After Summer.