GRACE talk exclusively to Crossover Music Magazine about their new adventureEver since The Three Tenors made their mark, operatic groups have been forming, seeking to capture a little of that magic and create their own. The market has been heavily dominated by male groups like Il Divo, G4, Blake, Il Volo, The Ten Tenors, The Irish Tenors, The Dutch Tenors, Forestella and more. Female groups such as Bond, Opera Babes, and All Angels also left an important mark, but it’s been a while since we’ve heard from an all-female group, let alone an all-soprano one. Enter GRACE.
The name is simple but encapsulates a variety of qualities that the group seeks to establish. “I think it’s a powerful word, because it has so many different meanings to different people. To me, GRACE is being elegant. It’s being strong and powerful. It’s being respectful and considerate. It’s a word of faith for me. So it has a lot of different meanings to me, and I’m sure to the other girls as well… I think it’s a beautiful way to describe three powerhouse individuals,” Natasha Hemmings shared exclusively to CMM.
Nadia Eide echoed these sentiments, saying, “It’s that strength of femininity as well, it’s what we all have in spades.”
Faryl Smith mentioned that while many names were considered, “When GRACE was mentioned, it just seemed to fit.”
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The sopranos each bring their own unique flair to the group. Faryl Smith was discovered at the tender age of twelve on Britain’s Got Talent, where Simon Cowell hailed her audition as “the best audition I’ve heard this year.” Even then, Faryl’s voice exuded a warmth that has since matured into a delightful richness, full and mature. “I went on to have two albums with Universal or Decca Classics at the time. Since then, I have had some amazing experiences. I have been lucky enough to perform with some amazing opera singers and very well known classical crossover artists. I toured with Katherine Jenkins, and similarly performed with Aled Jones Russell Watson. And I then went to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and trained as an opera singer on the opera course.”
Nadia has been hailed as a “goddess” by Will.i.Am on the UK version of The Voice. “I am originally from Scandinavia, I’m half Norwegian and half Swedish. I grew up there and moved to the UK when I was eighteen to study music. I come from a musical theater and operetta into opera background really – that was kind of my journey, studying musical theater and then discovering my voice was quite classical. Then going into operettas later on in my career, and then I kind of fell into classical crossover. So I’ve been doing that very much as a solo artist for the majority of my career, traveling the world and just loving doing concerts all over the place, and very excited to be starting this new journey with these two wonderful ladies. So that’s me in a nutshell.” Her voice carries a spin and excitement that lends itself well to building dramatic climaxes.
Former Miss England, Natasha Hemmings, brings a contemporary yet soft and soaring voice to the ensemble. “I’ve been studying classically since I was 14 years old at the junior Royal Northern College of Music. I’ve been songwriting and singing classical music… When I was 19, I won Miss England, that was a huge opportunity that launched me sort of on the world stage. I went to China for Miss Worlds, I think the Beauty Crown Grand Theater, which was streamed to over one billion viewers. Since then, I’ve toured with Ronan Keating, MBE Aled Jones, and Russell Watson. I’ve had the privilege of collaborating with some really legendary artists as well. So classical music has always kind of been my inspiration. I have all always kind of crossed over a little bit into the pop world with my songwriting. But at the heart of my music, it is classical inspiration. So to be part of a classical crossover group is super exciting for me.”
It’s evident that their collective experience and musical maturity set them apart from groups hastily assembled by managers or record labels. “We’ve kind of always known of each other for a while. I think when you have a mutual love for this style of music, and I myself, I’m quite a geek, so I like to see different artists, what they’re up to, and just get inspiration from other people as well,” Nadia shares. Life on extensive tours and can be exhilarating yet lonely. “It’s pretty much just me alone on stage most of the time and it can be quite lonely. So I thought, you know, it’s so nice to be able to get together and do some harmonies and experiment a little bit more. I think it’s been a long time since there’s been a girl group, and I think it’s a good time for some girl power. I think a lot of people would be fans of the three of us, it’s lovely that we all come together, and hopefully can create a new fan base.”
Arranging for three sopranos presents its challenges. “We’ve had a few studio sessions, and it’s been seamless. Our voices blend as if they were made for each other. It’s been an incredibly exciting journey so far,” Nadia said. While Natasha describes it as “…an exciting opportunity for creativity. We’ve each taken turns in kind of exploring different roles for our voices in each of the songs that we do. We’re sort of finding a way of just creating together and just letting each other have the spotlight in moments and it has been a challenge but also just so rewarding when you hear back the harmonies all working together in that way and it’s useful whatever part you’ve been given to be a part of that process.”
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While it’s early days, GRACE has already begun sharing clips of their performances of Caccini’s “Ave Maria” and the spiritual “Steal Away.” Their rendition is pitch-perfect, showcasing a stunning array of harmonies. Faryl describes their repertoire selections as “trying to get a balance of lots of different genres. Because as we’ve all mentioned, and Nadia said, she trained in musical theater, and Natasha was saying she has lots of experience in pop and now I’m performing mostly in opera. So that is quite a lot of genres and experience from all of us really, that we are able to all bring together, which is great. So we are trying to kind of do a mix of everything really, and trying some things out and seeing what works and seeing what doesn’t work as well. It’s a process.”
They clearly celebrate each other’s strengths, with Natasha emphasizing, “The main thing is that we’re all individuals. We all have our own story and our own things that drive us that we want to share. It’s not so much that we have a collaborative message. For GRACE, it’s more that we celebrate each other and empower each other as individuals. What we’re bringing to the table together is amazing because it’s each strong characters, that have their own careers and have their own lives, and it builds their own story.”
Nadia agrees, stating, “That’s like the essence of the entire group. It’s because you’re not just getting three girls who are new, fresh out of college or whatever, and being put together to create something, we all three of us have had extensive careers and a lot of experience. I think that’s super rare. That’s why it’s exciting for me as well, to do something like this, because it’s a strong kind of powerhouse group. We’ve got three girls who know what they’re about, you know, and that’s what makes it exciting for me, because you’ve got the experience from a plethora of performance venues. We’ve all been traveling the world, all worked with amazing artists, and we’ve gathered all this knowledge and experience and put it together. And so who knows, the world’s [is] our oyster. There’s a lot of excitement.”
GRACE featuring Faryl Smith, Nadia Eide and Natasha Hemmings bring stunning harmonies to life
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