After a wonderfully busy summer break, I have settled back in to Manchester to complete my final year at the Royal Northern College of Music. This year’s “Fresher’s Week” was a lot different to mine – Drinks at the bustling RNCM bar, that finally reopened after 18 months of closure, group jam nights, and a Cèilidh (for those that don’t know what that is, it’s a traditional Scottish/Irish line dancing event). Unfortunately, at the end of this epic week, I caught the worst cold -Fresher’s Flu! This cold knocked me for over a week, and I was recovering from it for a month. “Luckily it wasn’t Covid!”, I said at the time.

September-December is audition season and I had quite the list of auditions to apply for, as well as live auditions that I had successfully gained. Of course, each audition also had different repertoire requirements to the next. I also had the Neue Stimmen Competition to prepare for, as well as The Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute which I was singing with Suffolk Opera and Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos for RNCM. So, catching a cold was not ideal!

I performed the Queen of the Night in Woodbridge, Suffolk, with a wonderful orchestra and the most amazing cast of stars! I truly felt like an imposter singing with them all! If you missed my Facebook post about keeping it real, you can check it out below.

“The Queen of the Night is one of the most demanding soprano roles, the coloratura fireworks a test of ability, stamina and nerves. Sarah Prestwidge, in her first performance as the Queen sang with considerable elan and one might predict that she has a future in that role.”

Critic: Gareth Jones

I also had an amazing time competing in the Neue Stimmen Competition. Whilst I did not get through to the final, it was really amazing to sing for the panel at the ROYAL OPERA HOUSE!!!! I am still so ecstatic over the fact that I got to enter the stage door like so many of my idols. Hopefully one day I’ll get to do it again, and if I’m lucky, it will be to sing on the MainStage.

After the week from hell – 5 auditions and a competition, I finally got to open my Ariadne Auf Naxos score to sing with my fellow cast members. I have the totally talented Melissa Gregory as my Composer, another Aussie chasing dreams, and we are led by the baton of the incomparable Peter Robinson. After a magical first week with our director Stuart Barker and no restrictions or social distancing required on stage, I caught Covid-19 from a fellow cast member. I was absolutely heartbroken and a blubbering mess when the 2 lines appeared on my covid test.

My symptoms were not what I expected them to be, and I guess that it the difference with each variant, there are also varying symptoms. It began with a headache, a tight chest and sore throat that honestly felt like acid reflux or indigestion. As the week progressed I became more fatigued and by Sunday I was finding it difficult to walk. My partner (who is FINALLY here in the UK with me after 14 months of long distance) was there to look after me for the first couple of days, meaning he also caught covid. We both had very different experiences. On the 5th day, I lost all my taste and smell. It is an oddly alarming feeling to eat a dish with an outrageous amount of garlic and chilli that leaves your lips burning, but not taste a thing! At this point I started training my taste and smell again by describing what I could taste (creamy, sweet, or salty), and smelling strong essential oils, Vicks Vapour Rub and sticking my nose into my basil plant until one day they actually smelt like something. I also cooked meals that honestly would have been vile if I could actually taste – 3-4 cloves of garlic, and 2 chicken stock cubes for one serving!! Excessive, but I could actually taste something, so that was great.

Apparently, smell loss occurs when the coronavirus infects cells that support neurones in the nose. These neurones let the brain know what it can smell. I do know that I weirdly experienced phantosmia, which is when you think you are smelling something, but it is fleeting. I think it was based on my memory of the smell. Very interesting stuff!

My partner weirdly lost his taste and smell on day 10 (which is the last day of isolation here in the UK) and had nothing more than a bit of fatigue – I am so glad that he is fine!!! It just highlights that Covid-19 is not linear and everyone’s experience is so different. Unfortunately, I also had a tight chest and my breathing was incredibly laboured, as if I had someone standing on my chest relentlessly. The cough was annoyingly consistent and I had a lot of stress around living alone and not being about to breathe normally. I was incredibly blessed to have an amazing support of people, from family and friends calling to check in, the maintenance men in my building delivering my mail and parcels (thanks for the beautiful flowers Mum and Dad!), and a lovely friend that went to pick up a high steroid inhaler and an Oximeter suggested by my doctor to help with my breathing and calm my anxieties when I was struggling to breathe. It was a very scary and frustrating time, especially as I was missing my Ariadne rehearsals and having to watch them via zoom. This was really upsetting as I hadn’t contracted covid from a fun night out but from those very rehearsals, and it felt like punishment having to be locked in my tiny flat, watching someone else sing the role I worked really hard on.

My first day out of quarantine I had a corporate performance at the Royal Northern College of Music to thank all their biggest donors, and the subsequent 2 days consisted of 7 hour rehearsals for Ariadne and an audition for Glyndebourne – how I did it, I don’t even know!! I cannot express how grateful I am to my fellow cast members, especially the alternate Zerbinetta, for helping me catch up on what I had missed and giving me a lovely welcome back into rehearsals.

It has now been a week today since I was released back into the wild, and I am still suffering some longer symptoms – tight chest and cough ensuing – however, I am so blessed to be doing ok and incredibly thankful for modern day science, because if I hadn’t been fully vaccinated, I know that I would have been a lot worse off.

So, how do you get through this season of auditions that happens to coincide with cold, flu and covid season? I cut out or limit alcohol, double my water intake, eat/drink anti-inflammatory agents (ginger tea – or turmeric if you can stand the taste – garlic and fish) and begin or up my vitamins (D and C are big helpers!). All these things help to strengthen your immune system and in the case that you do get sick, they will help speed up your recovery. When I got the terrible cold and covid, I stopped singing and focused on voice rest and not coughing. Especially with Covid, which really attacks your lungs and can lead to upper respiratory inflammation as well as secondary infections and pneumonia. I did lots of steaming with a personal steamer and in the shower, and towards the end of my isolation I began phonating with gentle humming, vocalising on consonants and plenty of straw work (blowing bubbles with a straw into a glass of water, adjusting the resistance by putting the straw deeper or shallower in the water, breathing through a straw and humming through a straw). Make sure you only do short stints of these over the last few days of isolation as they will make you exhausted and can causing coughing fits. I found that doing these exercises meant that it wasn’t a “shock to the system” when I had to eventually sing Glitter and Be Gay on the day of my release (ok, that piece was still a shock!!! Yikes, it was tough!).

No, I wasn’t willing to take it easy the week after having had covid, and yes I pushed myself way more than I should have, and I’ve spent the last 4 days paying for it. At the end of the day, it is important to be kind to yourself and listen to your body. If you need more time to recover, take it.

What are your tips and tricks for surviving this time of year? If you’ve experienced covid or a particularly bad cold/flu how did you get yourself performance ready again? I hope me sharing my experience can be of help to somebody.

Love SP xx