Wigan singer's dream solo spot in the Royal Albert Hall during Proms festival

A young Wigan singer will reach another career milestone tonight when she takes a turn in the limelight at the world's most famous classical music festival.
Lucy Farrimond at the Royal Albert HallLucy Farrimond at the Royal Albert Hall
Lucy Farrimond at the Royal Albert Hall

Lucy Farrimond, from Standish, will perform a solo at the Royal Albert Hall in London this evening (Monday) during a BBC Proms concert.

Other news: Another teenager faces allegations of a Wigan school arson bidThe 21-year-old, who studies at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, has been given the brief individual mezzo-soprano line which appears during the final chorus of Haydn's piece The Creation.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

That means she will come to the front of the stage for her moment in the spotlight in front of thousands of classical music fans and many more listening live to the BBC Radio 3 broadcast.

Lucy said: "Right at the end of The Creation there's a little mezzo-soprano solo. I will come down from the choir to the front of the stage for that.

"I'm really excited about it. I was nervous at first but we've done a run-through at MediaCity and rehearsals and I'm just looking forward to standing up with the professionals and singing alongside them.

"It's only a few bars but it's a big deal for me. It's my first time singing a solo line on Radio 3 in the Royal Albert Hall. I'm very happy."

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Lucy is appearing in the Prom as part of the BBC Proms Youth Choir, which is performing The Creation along with the BBC Philharmonic orchestra, three solo singers and highly-acclaimed conductor Omar Meir Wellber.

Most of the work will be sung in German but it has been decided to perform the very end of the piece in English.

This is Lucy's second appearance at the iconic festival, having made her debut on the Proms stage last year in the opening night of the concert season.

However, Lucy says she will also be thinking of Geoffrey Mort, who introduced her to classical singing but recently died, during her solo spot.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

She said: "He helped me get into Chetham's School of Music and did a lot for me, which I'm very grateful for. He would be the first person I would ring when something happened."

The Proms appearance marks the start of a busy summer for Lucy as she is heading to Italy for the Melofonetica summer school dedicated to singing in opera and classical music.

The Creation is performed at the BBC Proms tonight, starting at 7.30pm.