Interview - BBC Radio 3 Music Matters

BBC Radio 3 Music Matters: Arranging the Air

Thank you to Martin Handley and producer Les Pratt for asking me back to talk with BBC Radio 3! We met at the Royal Opera House during the run of I Puritani this July, and our conversation about working with conductors is part of Arranging the Air, Martin's four-part Music Matters series on the art of conducting. The other guests include Herbert Blomstedt, Jakub Hrůša, Dalia Stasevska, Mark Wigglesworth, Trevor Pinnock and Harry Christophers.

In episode 3, Once more with feeling, I talk about what a singer needs from a conductor in rehearsal and in a staged production. The episode also plays "Vien, diletto" from our Dresden I Puritani recording with Riccardo Frizza.

“Sometimes as a singer, I want to take the wheel and drive something in a direction that I want to drive it. But I also have to understand that I'm one person and the conductor has to lead a huge group of orchestral players, sometimes other singers with me, a chorus. I can't be the boss all the time.”

Lisette Oropesa, BBC Radio 3 Music Matters

“When you're doing a staged production, more often than not, especially now in 2026, you're not just standing and singing anymore. You're meant to be doing blocking on stage. Sometimes you're running, sometimes you're turning around and not even able to look downstage.”

Lisette Oropesa, BBC Radio 3 Music Matters

In the final episode, The magic and the mayhem, we talk about what makes a live performance take flight.

“I don't think any performance is truly routine. Every night it's another whole fresh slate. The hard thing for me, I have to remember to get out of my head. And you have to go out on stage and say, now I'm not in my head anymore. Now I'm listening to my colleague while they sing. And if you're in your head, you're not connected.”

Lisette Oropesa, BBC Radio 3 Music Matters

Listen to the full series on BBC Sounds: Music Matters, Arranging the Air