Sunday 20 March 2022 marks the one-year anniversary of the death of one of Australia’s most sparkling sopranos, Taryn Fiebig. She was a good friend and fellow performer, her life snuffed out by ovarian cancer. As an ambassador of the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation (OCRF), it was Taryn’s wish to raise money for the OCRF and awareness about ovarian cancer, one of the least understood of diseases. In the 18 months before her death, we went into Trackdown studios in Sydney to capture her vocal artistry before she disappeared. The result of that recording is now an album called She.

Our first session was just her sitting in the studio, singing and accompanying herself on the cello. She recorded some six arias and songs over three hours, music by Handel and Caccini. Taryn was completely focused, her voice in fine form, her intonation excellent, her fingers flying across the cello. All this she did in one afternoon, having had chemotherapy that morning.

Taryn Fiebig recording at Sydney’s Trackdown studios. Image courtesy Guy Noble.

Later we recorded another two sessions with an orchestra made up of many players from the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra. These were predominantly Mozart arias and his music suited her voice perfectly. She had performed the role of Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro many times with Opera Australia and her Deh Vieni was just sublime. As I conducted I was once again amazed by her stamina, mental and physical.  Singing is such a physical activity, and Mozart’s music is so exposed, there’s nowhere to hide in his long melodic lines.

The final sessions were with piano. This was in the middle of COVID lockdown and Taryn arrived with two plastic bags for us to wear – recording PPE. I accompanied her in some French art song, the delicious Extase by Duparc, Les Chemins de l’amour by Poulenc, and some more contemporary songs including the title track She. This Charles Aznavour song took on new meaning when sung by a woman, and a woman who was dying – “She may be the face I can’t forget/A trace of pleasure or regret”.

Taryn Fiebig and Guy Noble in their “recording PPE”. Image courtesy Guy Noble.

A number of months after Taryn died, we went back into the same studio and recorded extra parts over her original tracks. A string quintet and then one of the finest groups of backing singers you could imagine: her co-stars from Opera Australia including Peter Coleman-Wright, Cheryl Barker, John Longmuir, Dominica Matthews, Jane Ede, Taryn’s husband Jud Arthur and three of her beloved singing students. The singers heard Taryn’s voice in their headphones for the first time since her death, and it became an emotional and yet joyous day, joining with her in song once again.

I am very proud of this recording, and thankful to Taryn’s friend and philanthropist Loz Copley who funded the studio and the orchestra to make it happen. Loz’s sister had died of ovarian cancer so she understood just how devastating it is to lose someone to this awful disease. Taryn herself was incredibly grateful to record the music that she loved the most.

People show their true mettle in adversity, and I don’t think I have met a braver person than Taryn Fiebig, who lived with humour, grace and dignity and died with it as well.

She – Taryn Fiebig Songs and Arias will be available on CD and download from 20 March, 2022.