The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Opera star singing for delight
Lesley Garrett is the undisputed queen of opera. Ahead of performances at Dunfermline’s Carnegie Hall on October 6 and Dundee’s Gardyne Theatre on October 9, she chats to The Courier...
Join Lesley Garrett, the UK’s most popular soprano, when she comes to Courier Country for two shows of song, reminiscences and chat.
Her behind-the-scenes stories and anecdotes will give audiences a unique insight into her life on the stage.
As well as performing on the opera and concert stage both in the UK and internationally, Lesley has starred in Carousel and The Sound of Music and appeared on TV shows including Strictly Come Dancing and Loose Women.
She has also performed alongside artists including Michael Ball, Renee Fleming, Andrea Bocelli, Bryn Terfel and Lily Savage.
When she appears at Carnegie Hall and the Gardyne Theatre, it will be a chance to get to know the woman behind the soaring soprano notes.
Is her show, An Audience with Lesley Garrett, more nerve-wracking than an operatic performance?
“They’re usually very relaxed and intimate evenings,” she says. “I’ll talk about my life, about how I started from very humble beginnings and ended up where I am today. There’ll be a lot of laughing, singing and chatting, with the audience asking questions and requesting songs.
“I love that each evening is different because the audience is different – people are so important to the show.”
Lesley, 61, has been an established part of the world of opera for more than 30 years, enjoying one of the most successful careers of any modern-day, classically trained soprano. It won’t be the first time that she has been to Courier Country. Lesley has played here a few times and says she loves the area.
“I’d love a little browse around some of Broughty Ferry’s boutiques and see what the Fife and Dundee areas have to offer. ”
She has a strong affinity with Scotland, having started her career at Haddo House in Aberdeenshire, where she performed in Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor.
“I was a student at the Royal Academy of Music at the time and singing under the instruction of Lady Aberdeen was a great experience for a 21-year-old,” she says.
These days, Lesley is often in Angus, singing alongside the Arbroath Male Voice Choir, and has performed at the Last Night of the Proms at Dundee’s Caird Hall.
A proud Yorkshire lass, Lesley comes from a mining community, where music was really valued.
“The whole area was steeped in music. Everyone played the piano and friends and family would pitch up for a sing-a-long. We were like the von Trapps of South Yorkshire!”
Lesley, who says music is part of her DNA –“it’s vital to life” – is saddened there isn’t as much music in schools as there used to be.
“What happened to school assemblies where kids would sing their hearts out? It sets you up for the day; it wakes up your mind, body and spirit. Music has always been great therapy.”
People sing at weddings, at funerals, at football matches because they need to express themselves through sound so the idea it’s an optional extra in school is crazy.”
So for those of us who want to get into singing, what does Lesley suggest?
“Join a choir. Get close to somebody who’s good at singing; you need a singing buddy. Sing along to something that moves you and find somewhere where you can sing freely, whether that’s the shower, in the car, or in a field. When I take in that magical breath and engage my body, mind and spirit, and change the air I’ve inhaled into a sound that will potentially make somebody cry or laugh, it’s very empowering.”
Music is vital to life. It has always been great therapy.