Miss Emily Barlaston
(Order of the British Empire)
Dear Sir or Madam,
How can one describe the musical cabaret act of Miss Emily Barlaston, O.B.E.? Well, for a start, this is what Who's Who in Holland had to say:
Emily Barlaston, O.B.E.
This very British lady was born in Stoke-on-Trent, England, in 19#@ - it was a Wednesday. She attended Miss Ida Pratt-Fall's Academy of Music for Distressed Young Ladies at Keighley, Yorkshire, and then had private singing lessons with the famous Signore Aldo Coniglio, the renowned pork butcher from Bradford. After several years with different musical, operetta, and opera companies in Britain, the eccentric Miss Barlaston made her Dutch debut as Prima Donna Dissoluta with the Zuider Zee Opera. Although she retired in 1977, she is at present very much occupied with the Ninth Farewell Tour of her legendary one-lady show (entitled One Lady Show) in England, Australia, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Portugal, Spain, the Czech Republic, and South Korea. In addition to a part-time job as fashion adviser to the Dutch Evangelical Broadcasting Association, she also does flower-arranging for Radio Oost. Apart from being a member of the Order of the British Empire (presented to her by her personal friend Queen Elizabeth II as a reward for her services as a cultural diplomat and her activities with the Girl Guides of England) she also belongs to the Nederlandse Toonkunstenaarsbond and British Actresses' Equity Association. At the moment, her mildly torrid love-novels "Ludoviko's Secret Love" and "Princess Margaret and I" are available from De Slegte Bookshop, where her first Compact Disc (with the French rock group Vinilkosmo) is available currently at 17 Euros per kilo.
Miss Emily performs with her own stable of long-suffering (and internationally renowned) pianists, but has also made gust appearances with various orchestras. In between the songs, over the occasional glass glass glass glass glass glass glass of sherry, she talks a lot to the audience (usually in their own language - except in Korea!) and also gets everyone to let their hair down by joining in with the singing. The act is totally flexible as regards time (anywhere between three minutes and ninety minutes); it can be in one spot or two, but as a rule it tends to be one spot of about 30 minutes, usually coming to a climax with a sort of Last Night of the Proms, in which members of the audience are given party-poopers, streamers, flags, etc. to play with. And the sherry keeps coming and coming.......
In short, this sherry-loving, side-splitting, pensioned-off prima donna cannot, after a successful international career, relish life's twilight. So, with her "whimsical appearance", "unsurpassed quality of voice" and "unusual English sense of humour", the entertaining chanteuse has managed to keep her finger in by appearing (always to a standing ovulation) on many a stage - be it in tent or theatre, bank boardroom or gentlemen's club, house or garden, airport or football stadium (the helicopter and the match between Groningen and Willem II of Tilburg were especially pleasurable) she brings the roof down. This enchanting diva of the lighter genre is certainly not planning to take things lying down just yet!
Would you be interested in seeing this "Grand Old Lady of the Classics" in action? Well, we would both be very interested to hear from you.
With best wishes,
Samuel Abernathy
(for Emily Barlaston)
P.S. Although Miss Barlaston has so sole representative, she has received engagements through the following agents: Amsterdams Uit Bureau, Ank le Noble, Artiesten en Musici, Arjan van Dijk Group, B.VIP.M., EPOC Management, Heijs & Koks, Van Hoof & Van Hoof, Impresariaat De Plu, Jan van Ingen Management, Lex Kater, Loeder Events, Michel Bijpost, Nederlands Impresariaat, Nikè Event Consultants, Planet Event, Stichting PromoSing, Stress Management, Jan Swinkels, Targett Entertainment, Theaterbureau Charles Aerts, VIP Events and Theaterbureau Paul Wijtvliet (Holland); the late Michael Julian (Portugal); SamJin Entertainments (Korea); Alan Clements Productions, Second City Management and The Singers' Agency (England); K.E.F. (Denmark); Tomasz Wojciechowski (Poland).
