Soprano Sophie Pullen gets set for New Year's gala at the Orchestra of St John

For a professional soprano, Sophie Pullen came to singing unusually late. Although she showed an interest in singing as a child, it was not until she sang with Glyndebourne Youth Opera, aged 17, that it became an important part of her life.

“I had a desire to be a singer when I was about three, but I wanted to be a tenor so that didn’t work out!” she laughs.

“My parents put me down for the Youth Opera at Glyndebourne when I was 12, but the waiting list was so long they didn’t get to me until I was 17.

“I was in a choir at school, and I was always around music.

“My mum and dad both love opera and play it in the house a lot, so I think I was probably singing along!

“When I went to university I sang with the youth opera at Leeds and got some stage experience and fell in love with it. I saw lots of operas at Opera North, and in my year at university they created an opera society, so there was lots of music and opera going on.”

After graduating from Leeds University with a first class degree in mathematics, Sophie moved to London to study with soprano Patricia Rozario.

This gave her the opportunity to undertake further study at Birkbeck University and Morley College, as well as attending a British Youth Opera summer workshop and singing in a student chorus at the Royal Opera House under the baton of Sir Mark Elder.

A post-graduate course in vocal and operatic studies at Birmingham Conservatoire followed, and there she began studying with mezzo-soprano Christine Cairns, wife of OSJ founder and conductor John Lubbock.

“I improved a lot with Christine, and learned a lot from her,” Sophie says.

“Unfortunately I’ve moved down to Sussex and it’s a bit too far to get up here regularly, so I don’t see Christine so much any more, but whenever I’m working with John I’ll be working with Christine as well on the things that I’ve got coming up.”

Studying with Christine Cairns has led to several engagements with the OSJ, including singing Strauss and Rachmaninov songs in the popular Ashmolean Proms series, Mozart arias with violinist Dimitry Sitkovetsky at St John’s Smith Square, and previous New Year’s Eve galas.

Next week she makes a welcome return to the orchestra for this year’s New Year’s Eve Gala, which, like last year, will be performed twice in one day, with an afternoon performance at St John’s Smith Square and an evening performance at Dorchester Abbey.

In keeping with the spirit of the occasion, Sophie will be singing favourite arias from Strauss and Léhar operettas – including Adele’s famous Laughing Song (Mein Herr Marquis) from Die Fledermaus and Vilja’s Lied from The Merry Widow.

“Adele is your typical kind of plucky servant girl, and Mein Herr Marquis is one of those wonderful moments of somebody completely pulling the wool over somebody else’s eyes, which she does rather well!

“In the second one we’re doing, Vilja’s Lied, the character Hanna Glawari is telling the story of Vilja, a wood nymph who seduces and destroys the minds of the men she draws into her lair.

“So it’s a warming to all those men out there to stay away from beautiful-looking ladies in the woods who are up to no good!”

There is also the flirtatious Meine lippen sie küssen so heiss, sung by the title character in Léhar’s Giuditta.

“She’s a gypsy queen dancer, and is one of those dangerous women you should stay away from, but it’s unlikely you’ll to be able to.

“She’s very seductive and cunning, a very visceral sort of lover.”

Finally, there’s Frühlingsstimmen (Voices of Spring), a waltz for solo voice written by Johann Strauss II.

“They’re all classic pieces, the sort of repertoire you hear in the Vienna New Year’s Day concert,” says Sophie. “They’re really rousing, finale-type numbers.

“I do love singing operetta, because it has elements of vocal gymnastics.

“The words are interesting – they’re not arias where things repeat a lot. You’re often telling a story or moving the action along with what you’re doing.

• In full voice: Sophie Pullen promises to be this year’s highlight 

“The women are quite often go-getters. In some operas the women are often just sitting around talking about who’s upset them, whereas these characters all have their own schemes, so they’re good fun.”

As in previous years, the New Year’s Eve gala will also feature popular Strauss waltzes and polkas to ensure a suitably party-like atmosphere.

Sophie might have been a late starter compared to some of her fellow professionals, but she has certainly made up for lost time.

Since graduating from the Birmingham Conservatoire – with a Distinction and a Prize for Excellence – she has performed song recitals with the Coull Quartet, Buxted Symphony Orchestra and The Forest of Dean Symphony Orchestra, as well as singing in oratorios with numerous choral societies.

More recent roles include Bastienne in Mozart’s one-act comic opera Bastien und Bastienne for Wastepaper Opera Company, Atalanta in Handel’s Xerxes for Hampstead Garden Opera and Adina in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore for Barefoot Opera. “Adina was probably the biggest role I’ve done to date. It’s the main female lead, with a lot of Donizetti coloratura, and that was so much fun.”

Exciting plans for 2016 include singing on a cruise in Peru and Chile with Swan Hellenic, and she has recently joined the London-based Opera Prelude.

“They’re a small company who do lecture recitals as well as straight recitals, and they have their own competitions for their young artists, so I should be doing some work with them next year.

“For the audition I had to prepare a lecture as well, and coming from an academic background and not having done as much music as other people, it’s quite nice to have gone back to doing researching. I always enjoyed English and writing, so it’s nice to bring those two different elements together.”

First, though, that New Year’s Eve gala awaits.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” she says.

“We did it last year at Dorchester Abbey and King’s Place, London, and it was so much fun, so it should be a really good show.”

Where and when
The OSJ’s Strauss Gala takes place at Dorchester Abbey on New Year’s Eve, starting at 7pm. Tickets: 07775 904 626, orchestra@osj.org.uk