ILL health has forced Suffolk soprano Laura Wright to cancel tonight’s concert at Ipswich Corn Exchange.

The 22-year-old, suffering from a sore throat and chest infection, had been looking forward to performing for friends and family.

“Oh my goodness it’s so exciting to be doing a concert in my own town. As soon as I told my family there was going to be a concert there they were really excited. It’s just going to be a great evening; it’s not often you get to perform for all your friends and family in one place and I’ve got quite a big family as well,” she told me a few weeks back.

“I always get nervous, but there is something that adds a little bit of nerves when it’s your home crowd, I think because you feel really proud and you want to hopefully make them feel proud of you and what you’re doing. I tend to put a little bit of pressure on myself.”

She needn’t worry.

With more than one million album sales under her belt, the Royal College of Music student was one of 2011’s biggest selling classical artists, hitting number one in the classical chart with her album The Last Rose; the first female singer to do it since Katherine Jenkins.

Her follow-up, Glorious, went straight in at number two earlier this year.

“I’m so pleased with how the second album’s gone; it’s always quite a tricky one as an artist. I know from singing in All Angels the second album can be quite hard.

“I’m still finding my creative direction and I’m writing as well as recording music; I’m just trying to enrich my life with as much music as possible and take every opportunity that comes my way. For me the most exciting part of music is performing and I just want to have as much material to perform with as possible.”

She confessed it’d taken a while to adjust to life as a solo performer after being part of All Angels until 2010.

“The first few performances on my own were scary; it was really odd not having those people and that support beside you. Actually, it’s let me come into my own and it’s always been my dream to perform on my own. In the long run it was definitely the right decision.”

Right now, Laura’s focused on just performing.

She’s got her last year at Royal College, after that she’s looking at going abroad to maybe release in Japan and do some travelling of her own, exploring exactly what kind of music she wants to settle into.

She’s only 22 after all.

Tonight’s show has been rescheduled for Friday, April 12, 2013. Current tickets remain valid for the new date but anybody unable to attend then should contact the box office on 01473 433100 about a refund.

Fans coming to see her at the Corn Exchange on April 12 can expect some favourites as well as new material.

“It’s going to be a night to remember,” she said when talking about the original date, “but also an opportunity for me to sing in front of my home crowd and the people I love so it’ll be a really special evening.”

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