Australian soprano Catherine Riley has returned to solo performance after 35 years, having stepped away from a promising musical career amid struggles with obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression that once made even listening to music unbearable.
The Oct. 18 performance at Christ Church St Laurence in Sydney also featured a composition inspired by an eight-year-old girl who noticed something unusual about her music teacher one day in 2024.
Although Riley was not visibly weeping, the young student sensed that something was wrong.
“You’re crying without tears,” the girl told her.
Those simple words moved Riley to tears and later inspired “Little Bodhisattva,” a musical composition by Riley’s husband, Steve Wood, with words written by Riley herself. A Boddhisattva is an enlightened being in the Buddhist tradition.
The young girl, Akiane, attended the recital with her family, witnessing how her act of kindness had been transformed into music.
A Career Interrupted by Mental Health Struggles
For Riley, who turned 60 on the day of the recital, the performance represented far more than a return to the stage.
A graduate of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, she had once pursued a promising career in early music, studying in London with renowned soprano Emma Kirkby and later performing with the Renaissance Players.
However, her career was interrupted by chronic OCD and depression.
“In my early 20s, I started to struggle with mental health issues, and because of that, I felt a lot of loss in my life,” Riley told The Epoch Times.
The emotional burden eventually became so overwhelming she could no longer bear to sing.
“I found it just too painful to sing. Even listening to the music that I loved was too painful,” she said.
Riley said she sought help from numerous doctors and psychologists but continued to struggle with the grief and loss associated with her condition.
She also described how perfectionism had dominated her relationship with music.
“When I would practice or when I did a performance, it was never good enough,” she said.
She would spend hours dwelling on perceived mistakes, questioning her abilities, and whether she should continue performing.
Choosing ‘Presence over Perfection’
A turning point came when Riley noticed a pamphlet advertising meditation classes towards the end of 2023.
She enrolled in 2024 and began studying meditation and philosophy under an ordained monk, seeking a way to quiet her mind and release the emotional burden she had carried for decades.
“It was life-changing, to be honest,” she said. “OCD creates a very busy mind, and you’re constantly suffering with intrusive thoughts, which are usually very painful and hard to deal with.”
Through meditation, Riley began developing a different relationship with her thoughts and emotions.
She said one of the most important lessons was learning to appreciate beauty in everyday experiences rather than continually striving for perfection.
“In just ordinary things you can find such extraordinary beauty,” she said.
The change also transformed her approach to singing.
Rather than judging every performance against an impossible standard, Riley began focusing on being present and appreciating the experience of making music.
“You can only do your best, and your best is what you can do without causing yourself mental anguish and harm,” she said.
A Child’s Compassion
Another deeply personal element of the recital was “Little Bodhisattva,” dedicated to Akiane, who had been Riley’s Year 2 student.
Akiane’s father said his daughter’s sensitivity towards others was something the family had witnessed many times.
“Kids are pure, so she could feel it, and she expressed it,” he told The Epoch Times.
He described how his daughter would sometimes notice when he or his wife was stressed, even when they had said nothing about their feelings.
She would offer reassurance or simple gestures of kindness.
“We feel blessed that we have such souls in our life, in our family,” he said.
For Riley, the classroom encounter became a lasting reminder of the power of compassion.
In her poem “Little Bodhisattva,” she describes feeling invisible until a child noticed she was secretly hurting.
The composition concludes with the girl’s reassurance: “It will be okay.”
Centuries-Old Songs About Sorrow
The recital, performed alongside Sydney-based lutenist George Wills, featured Renaissance and Baroque works exploring grief, longing, tears, and consolation.
Soprano Catherine Riley and lutenist George Wills perform at Christ Church in Sydney, Australia, on Oct 18, 2026. Hailey Do/The Epoch Times
Riley said the program was intended to demonstrate how the experience of sorrow transcends time and cultural boundaries.
“These songs were written in the 1600s,” she said.
“We still feel the same emotions, the same grief and sorrow in the modern-day world.”
The program included works by Giulio Caccini, Barbara Strozzi, Francesca Caccini, and John Dowland, concluding with Dowland’s joyful Come Again: Sweet Love Doth Now Invite.
During Sunday’s recital, Riley made a conscious effort to appreciate her surroundings and remain aware of what she could see, hear, and feel.
“I don’t think you’re ever going to be perfect,“ she said. ”You work hard, and then you move forward.”
English (US) · 
Turkish (TR) · 