Australian vocalist Mirusia Louwerse, better known by just her first name, is renowned worldwide for her pure soprano voice, her diversity, and her bubbly personality. The latter shines through even when she is just chatting, as she did to Glam this week, ahead of her concert here on the weekend.
Although known mostly for classical, and classical-crossover work, particularly with André Rieu, in her early musical career, she had quite different ambitions.
“I wanted to be a country singer. I tried so hard, but it just didn’t suit my voice. And then one day my singing teacher suggested I try some musical theatre, so I did. And suddenly I found exactly what I had been looking for my whole life: a style of music that fit my voice to a T.”
Despite finding her mojo in classical works, the girl still has her heart in the country.
“I do love country music and I listen to it all the time when I’m in my own personal space. And I did do a little homage to my past in an album I released a couple of years ago, Songbird. On that album I sing a classical crossover version of Jolene by Dolly Parton.”
Mirusia embraces the classical and operatic works for which she is famous, and also jumps at the chance to do musical theatre works.
“Singing the traditional full-on opera stuff is fun because it’s challenging, I feel totally in the right space, and I love it. But to actually perform musical theatre pieces where I can do a little bit of acting and get into the role…that’s also really fun.”
As a performer Mirusia has an impressively broad taste in music. She was hard-pressed when asked to name a favourite composer.
“Mozart really wrote for the voice. You can relate Andrew Lloyd-Weber to what Mozart was doing. You can put me on the record as saying that Lloyd-Weber is the modern-day Mozart. People might agree or disagree: I don’t care! Mozart was the pop music of the day. He was a jovial guy, he was funny, and he has lots of little hidden clues in his music which I like. It’s nice when you know about it and then you sing it and think ‘ha ha I know why he did this!’. But I also love early music like Handel: I was specialising in that at the Conservatorium. But then I also love more modern composers like Benjamin Britten. A few years ago I performed in his War Requiem. I guess you could say I love a whole broad spectrum of classical music and beyond!”
Mirusia will be presenting a concert in Adelaide on Saturday March 25, and is really looking forward to it.
“It’s a 1.30 show so people can go have lunch or brunch and then they can come and be part of the shows. I tell a whole load of stories, and relate some to classical music and some to modern. I love talking to the audience and I love a program that’s extremely diverse, and that’s what people will witness on Saturday. And I’ve got my special guest Emma Cavanagh. We will be reprising our Flower Duet that we did for the Australia Day Live Concert on ABC. Emma is also going to be singing some Mozart for us, which is really exciting. People are in for a lovely afternoon: something a bit different to the usual recital. We’ve even got a choose-your-own-music segment as well, so you get to select what I’m going to sing next. It’s a bit of fun.”
After Saturday this ball of energy won’t be taking a holiday anytime soon, either.
“I’ve got lots of different projects going this year, which is lovely. It keeps me going, it keeps my mind active. At the end of the year I’m touring Australia with my show Live in Concert, and I’m in the works of starting on my next album. But at the moment I’m promoting my duets album, and that’s why Emma is coming to Adelaide. It’s an album of duets with all my friends from around the world: it’s extremely contrasting music but for some reason it all just fits together. And the thing I focus on when not focusing on my own career, is the career of others. For instance I have been mentoring Emma since 2018. I love supporting young talent, so I run an artist development program when I’m not on tour. I love passing on my craft. And I love producing the records of other performers.”
Although an international star herself, Mirusia doesn’t mind admitting to being starstruck by other performers.
“When I was studying at the Con I fell in love with Cecilia Bartoli’s voice. Now she is apparently a closet André Rieu admirer. She lives in Geneva so she attended a concert we performed there. She came backstage and she was all over US saying, “I can’t believe I’m here!” and we were like “We can’t believe YOU’RE here”!!”
We can’t believe SHE will be here on Saturday, but be here she will.
Mirusia performs at The Regal Theatre Kensington, 25th March, at 1.30 pm.
Book tickets here. https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/935856
Interviewed by Tracey Korsten
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