INTERVIEW
wait to be there, with the climate, soil
and beautiful plants. So you just never
know!”
Lesley has performed all over the
world, singing at such acclaimed
venues as the Sydney Opera House,
the Hollywood Bowl in
Los Angeles, the Bolshoi in
Moscow and several times at
Wembley Stadium ahead of
the football showpiece FA
Cup final.
But she also relishes singing
at many small venues, as she
did at Ventnor, and tends
to do that as part of her current ‘An
Evening With Lesley Garrett’ tour, and
admits she derives as much pleasure
singing in a hall or church as she does
in front of tens of thousands.
She said: “I love performing at big
venues, but at the same time I also
like playing to a smaller audience,
like at Ventnor. That is when you can
be much more intimate and see into
people’s souls. In a large venue they
tend to be a distant mass, but at a
small venue it is as if you are singing
to each individual person who is
popular lunchtime TV programme
‘Loose Women’ and said: “I like to do
any kind of different activity that will
allow me to reach a wider audience
with the music I like to perform.
I think it helps break down that
stereotype that some people
still hold for opera singers.
“Some regard us as aloof,
difficult or posh, but we
are not at all. We just have
this great passion for music
and want to share it with
everybody. I have always
wanted to reassure people
that classical music and opera in
particular are for everyone if they will
just give it a chance. Many people have
told me they have come along to see
me and have thoroughly enjoyed it.”
"We just have this great
passion for music and want
to share it with everybody."
there listening to you. It is a different
experience and one that I treasure
because I like to get to know people
and feel part of the community. It
is good to keep a mixture of venues
going, because it brings different
things out of me musically.”
Lesley also recently guested on the
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