International soprano Lesley Garrett has delighted the world’s biggest audiences for over 40 years – from London’s Royal Opera House to America’s Hollywood Bowl. She’s performed with every leading orchestra as well as with the likes of Bryan Ferry and the Eurythmics, with whom she sang on the eve of the millennium, and has produced over a dozen best-selling albums. She’s also a familiar face on our television screens, presenting and appearing in countless shows.
Lesley encountered dementia when a close relative succumbed to it and says that even when her aunt became so ill that she couldn’t remember her own children’s names, “the sound of music she adored, sung by someone she adored had a tremendous effect on her. She would open her eyes, shake, and tears would pour down her face”.
So moved was Lesley by this experience that she became patron of a charity dedicated to improving the lives of people with dementia through music. It’s called Lost Chord, and it is because of our shared passion to bring music into the lives of those with this incurable condition that she and I came together for this podcast. I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed recording it.