Diva’s dressing to impress

3:02pm Thursday 10th July 2008

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OPERA singer Lesley Garrett is all dressed up and with plenty of places to go, just in time for the beginning of this summer's open air concerts.

When we speak, the 53-year-old talent is right in the middle of an all-important dress fitting with top designer Caroline Castigliano.

"Ever since I saw Shirley Bassey last year at the event, I thought that looks great fun. Plus, I have a very nice pair of wellies for the occasion, so I’m just waiting for that call."

Lesley Garrett

"Right now I'm trying on the most fantastic purple satin dress," gushes Lesley, who performs next week at the Henley Festival. "People often ask if I like dressing up and I say, are you kidding? Is the Pope Catholic? What girl doesn't like dressing up?"

Lesley, who lives in north London with her husband, Peter, and their two children, adds: "For me it's a wonderful aspect of the job and totally needed for what I do. After all, opera was the original visual art form and I think it's true that people listen as much with their eyes as they do with their ears.

"For each concert I wear at least three or four different dresses and it's just the most wonderful thing coming out on stage in my latest creation and hearing that wonderful gasp of enjoyment from the audience."

But even the South Yorkshire-born lass admits she is not immune to the problems that eventually beset us all in time.

"The flip side is that I really have to look after my figure and stay trim," she tells me with her down-to-earth trademark wit, made familiar by regular appearances on ITV's Loose Women. "The pounds always start creeping on slowly until eventually I think this is no good at all.

"Just today I was looking in the mirror and thinking I might just have to lose half a stone before all my concerts!"

Weight anxieties aside, Lesley tells me she cannot wait to perform at this year's round of open-air concerts, beginning with the five-day Henley Festival on Friday, July 11.

She says: "I have performed at Henley several times and absolutely love it. There's always so much going on and the atmosphere, post regatta, is just fantastic. You can still feel that buzz in the air."

This year Lesley will appear alongside New Zealand-born singer Will Martin and violin virtuoso David Garrett.

The programme will include some well-known operatic arias by Verdi, Puccini and Bizet, as well as the more contemporary such as Edith Piaf and Cole Porter.

Lesley will also sing a selection of works by Rogers and Hammerstein, something of a warm-up perhaps before the versatile opera singer treads the boards later this year in a new West End production.

Having made her musical debut two years ago playing Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music, Lesley will next take up the mantle of Nettie Fowler in Carousel, singing a number of classic compositions including the famous You'll Never Walk Alone.

But surely a role in the West End is a far cry from the world of classical opera?

Lesley explains: "Well, I've always enjoyed doing lots of things and versatility is certainly something that I'm drawn to. Many of the great opera singers travel the world and become well known for just one or two roles, but I never wanted to do that.

"My aim has always been to keep all the plates spinning on lots of different sticks. And who else can say they have been a "loose woman" and a nun at the same time? That still tickles me when I think about it."

Perhaps Lesley's versatility can even be explained by her love for all things musical, regardless of whether it is opera or pop, which, she tells me, has developed since she was a youngster.

Growing up in Thorne, near Doncaster, Lesley remembers the many happy evenings she spent with her family around the piano.

"We weren't that well-off and we didn't have a television or anything like that, so we made our own entertainment," she explains. "My grandfather on my mum's side was a classical pianist and made his living from it, while my other granddad had a jazz band, so for me it was certainly something in the blood."

She continues: "Both my parents were also musical, but they worked on the railways. My dad was a railway signalman and my mum was a booking clerk. "Eventually they both decided to become teachers and my dad spent many hours, sitting in his booth, studying for his exams. He later became a headmaster, which is quite an achievement really, and my mum became a music teacher. I think I learned so much from their hard work and determination."

During her teen years, Lesley loved listening to The Beatles, as well as Joan Baez, but it was when she saw a performance of Madam Butterfly that her mind became set on a career in opera.

"I just fell in love with it straight away," remembers Lesley. "That was it, I just knew I had to do it."

Determined to make her dream a reality, Lesley enrolled at the Royal Academy of Music and soon after graduating, joined English National Opera. She has since enjoyed an extensive career, performing around the world, as well as releasing eleven solo albums. In 2002, Lesley received a CBE for her services to music.

So what next for the opera diva? Well, Lesley has another album, Amazing Grace, which will be released in the autumn, as well as a somewhat tongue-in-cheek ambition still to fulfil.

"I'd love to do Glastonbury," gushes Lesley excitedly. "Ever since I saw Shirley Bassey last year at the event, I thought that looks great fun. Plus, I have a very nice pair of wellies for the occasion, so I'm just waiting for that call."

Lesley Garrett performs with special guests David Garrett and Will Martin and the BBC Concert Orchestra on Friday, July 11 at the Henley Festival, Friday Street, Henley-on-Thames. Details: 01491 843404 or www.henley-festival.co.uk