Queenswood Music Scholar Eleanor Grant writes:

On 15 and 16 June, I was fortunate enough to take part in the first ‘Summer Sessions’
at the beautiful Chiswick House and Gardens. I was invited to play the
Shepherd Boy in Puccini’s opera, Tosca, in two outdoor performances.

The
Shepherd Boy has a
lovely solo at the beginning of Act 3, but is not involved in Acts 1 and
2, so this meant that I would not be required at all rehearsals,
allowing me to easily combine the production with revision for my GCSEs!

Tosca has a small cast and there was considerable
interest in this production, as Paul Potts (2009 winner of Britain’s Got
Talent) was playing the part of Cavaradossi. The cast were all
excellent and very experienced professional singers, so I had a lot to
live up to!

The opera was staged and rehearsed over
a period of two weeks, so there was a lot of pressure time-wise.
Performing open air also caused its own problems in terms of the sound,
the staging and last but not least, the weather! There was so much music
to get through, and our conductor, Simon Lee, had
just two rehearsals with the orchestra. Due to these time constraints,
my first run through with the orchestra was within the final rehearsal
hour on the day of the first performance! I also had to get to grips
with my stage direction during this time.

Given
all these pressures, I was fairly nervous, especially after seeing the
huge crowds gathered with their picnics before the start of the opera.
However, I needn’t have worried, as the evening was a huge success and
the weather stayed fine. Unfortunately we had
torrential rain the second night, and the performance was delayed by
half an hour! The audience bravely faced the elements as did the cast
and all those involved in the production.

I thoroughly enjoyed being
part of such a great experience.