Nicola Lisle chats to North Oxford opera star Christopher Purves about his pivotal role in an event at North Wall to save Summertown Library

Ensuring the future of Summertown Library is clearly a cause close to Christopher Purves’ heart, as he is taking time out of an exceptionally busy schedule to take part in a fundraising event.

As we meet for coffee in Summertown, he reveals that he is busy learning music for roles in Puccini’s one-act comedy Gianni Schicchi and Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, for Opera North and Welsh National Opera respectively, and he was also just about to make his Berlin Philharmonic debut in Handel’s La Resurrezione.

“I’m not very good at learning music,” he admits. “It’s a very painstaking experience, but it’s something that’s inevitable and you’ve got to do it.”

There will be no such problems, though, for his forthcoming North Wall appearance, as he will be singing one of his favourite Handel arias, Fra l’ombre e gl’orrori, from the cantata Aci, Galatea e Polifemo.

“It’s an impossibly difficult piece, which spans about as much as I can sing and a little bit more!” he laughs. “It goes incredibly high and incredibly low and it’s a major challenge for me — and for any singer, really. But I love singing the piece — it’s a wonderful piece of music, so I’m looking forward to it enormously.”

The aria features on Christopher’s album Handel’s Finest Arias for Base Voice, which he recorded for Hyperion in 2012.

“I was so proud to have done that, and so proud to have conceived the idea with the wonderful Handel scholar David Vickers,” he says.

“It did really well, and people really seemed to appreciate the spirit of it.

“This is where it’s quite interesting collaborating with writers for the North Wall project. They give of their own selves when they write their novels — it’s a very personal take on life.

“I suppose [the album] is as close as I’ve come to try and find the kernel of somebody else’s writing and then putting myself in its place, interpreting it as I would, rather than as someone would want me to.

“So it’s a very personal statement, and I’m very proud of that, because I think it’s as close as I’ve come to exhibiting the real me and what I think about music.”

As a resident of Summertown for 15 years, Christopher is passionate in his support for the local library, especially as he used to take his three children there when they were small.

“For many people it’s the hub of their community,” he says.

“The library is tiny, but it has the wonderful art gallery and the sculpture garden, and these are important. For a lot of people it’s the defining point in their lives, and we should look after them. It’s a very important part of a caring society that shows everyone that they’re looked after and that we care for them, and if we can show that by putting on something at the North Wall to advertise it, then all the better.

“It’s a small token, but I hope it will be a significant one and it will remind people who come to it that those of us who are fortunate enough to have jobs and have a say need to voice our opinions, and it’s really important we do.”

Stepping In: Making a Difference to Our Library
North Wall, Summertown
Saturday, October 18, 8pm
Visit thenorthwall.com
For more information about Christopher Purves, visit christopherpurves.com