I was a late starter writing music. I spent a lot of my twenties playing the piano for opera rehearsals and accompanying singers in restaurants. That is when I fell in love with opera and singing, and discovered that every voice is unique.

When I finally got going as a composer, around the age of 30, I started writing for some of the singers I had accompanied. Many of my operas and song-cycles have been written for particular singers. I generally compose at the piano, singing the vocal lines (so I know they can be sung) and looking forward to the exciting moment when a real voice will sing these notes.

I hope this collection will be fun to sing and provide useful recital and audition material. The songs in the early part of the book are probably the most approachable. I have adapted some of the opera arias so that they can be performed without extra voices. The first four were written with fairly young lyric sopranos in mind. I have also included some arias for coloratura soprano and, at the end, a showpiece for a Bad Girl.

Jonathan Dove, 2008.