HAVING a piece of music written for you by a Sheeran - even if it isn’t the most famous one, is pretty cool.

It’s even better when you get to have lunch with him and his mum afterwards.

“Except I didn’t make the connection at the time,” the rather embarrassed soprano Christina Johnston tells me.

“I think I must have had my head in the clouds because I was just having lunch with this really great guy who had written me this beautiful piece of music, and his mum.”

That person was composer Matthew Sheeran, older bother of Ed.

“We all grew up in Framlingham,” she explains, “but I’ve never met Ed. I know Matthew and his parents, mainly because they used to come to some of my concerts, and when he wrote me the piece we all went out to lunch.

"That’s when I asked him whether he had any brothers or sisters and my husband, who also went to Framlingham College, turned around and said ‘Christina! Ed Sheeran is Matthew’s brother’. Thankfully they all saw the funny side.”

Gazette:

Recognise him? Ed Sheeran grew up in the same town as Christina

I’m speaking to Christina over the phone, mainly because she’s on a train travelling from Woodbridge, where her mum still lives, to London.

At one point she pulls into Colchester and I remark that if I’d known, I could have nipped down to the station platform and waved to her, we’re that close.

But there’s plenty of chance to catch Christina face to face in the next few weeks because despite now being based in Prague, where she has lived for the past seven years, the singer is about to embark on first solo tour, and it’s all in East Anglia.

Starting off this weekend at the Church of St Peter in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, she’s also appearing in Colchester, at St Botolph’s Church next weekend, before taking in Chelmsford Cathedral, Wymondham Abbey in Norfolk and Great St Mary’s Church in Cambridge, among others, in October.

The reason for the tour is to promote her debut album, Blessing, which is also out this weekend.

“I really just wanted to start it off local,” she explains. “I grew up here in East Anglia and I know it so well. I wanted some friendly audiences to ease me into the UK scene.

“Next year we’re looking to take it further afield but for now it’s just a gentle introduction to the country.”

That may be the case for the UK but when it comes to Europe, Christina needs no introduction at all.

After moving to the Czech Republic capital, aged just 21, Christina auditioned and got a part with the State Opera in the city, which eventually led to her working with conductors and orchestras all over Europe as well as Asia and South America.

Gazette:

Christina in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic

“It’s been an amazing experience,” she says, “especially when you’re performing in the Estates Opera in Prague and you’re right next to this golden plaque which tells you that’s where Mozart was standing when he conducted here.

“But after seven years in Prague I’ve realised there was no where else to go. I’ve done all that I can and that’s why I’m moving back to the UK.”

Her move is also down to a chance meeting in Prague with veteran film and classical music producer James Fitzpatrick, who is perhaps most famous for discovering Lesley Garrett.

Since the formation of his Tadlow Music label, James has worked on albums by some of the biggest names in the business, including Katherine Jenkins, Michael Ball and Alfie Boe.

“He was in the city with his orchestra,” she reveals, “and he came to see me sing at a film festival. Afterwards he came up and said how much he enjoyed my performance and that there was a gap in the market for a singer like me.”

To be precise a coloratura soprano, or a singer who can reach the highest of notes.

“Literally translated it means to colour the notes,” Christina says, “but what it actually means is I have an extremely high range.

"The highest I can reach is a C7 but in terms of a classical piece, the highest written aria is by Mozart, which hits a G6. That’s a few notes below a C7.”

Later I ask my daughter, also a singer, what this means, and by the look on her face, I can tell it’s pretty darn impressive.

On her album, Christina gives it the full Monty of vocal gymnastics with a mix of highly popular opera arias plus some rarities that were totally suited to her high soprano voice.

That includes selections by Handel, Rachmaninov and Puccini as well as the notoriously difficult arias Der Hölle Rache from Mozart’s The Magic Flute and Bell Song from Lakmé by Delibes.

On the album, Christina also displays her gift for languages by singing in no fewer than nine, including English, German, Latin, Russian, French, Italian, Czech, Norwegian and the French dialect Occitan.

Now that’s just showing off.

“Ever since I cam remember I was singing,” she says, “and even at school the head of music there said I should think about a career in opera, which at the time my parents thought was hilarious.

“As the years went by I did the odd school concert, mainly choral stuff but also musical theatre as well, which goes quite well to the sort of voice I have.

“Now I’m just looking to make a bit of a name for myself and see where that takes me.”

If her time in Prague is anything to go by, this year the UK, next year, the world.

Christina Johnston
St Botolph’s Church, St Botolph’s Street, Colchester.
Saturday, September 30. 7pm. £15. 
Click here for tickets.