The wonderful residents at Lulworth House, Montefiore Home, Beresford Hall and Paddington Presbyterian Aged Care, throughout August, September and October, have been once again welcoming us into their lives, and providing us with the opportunity to sing and play some beautiful, powerful, funny and sentimental music.

The old favourites are still being performed (How could I NOT sing, ‘One day when we were young’, ‘Bluebirds over the white cliffs of dover’, ‘La vie en rose’?), but we’ve been having fun with some exciting new material – the very funny ‘Nina’ by Noel Coward (about a certain senorita from Argentina who refuses to dance); ‘A little bit in love’ and ‘100 Easy Ways to Lose a Man’ from Wonderful Town by Leonard Benstein, ‘My Yiddishe Momme’ by Lew Pollack, ‘Cabaret Songs’ by Benjamin Britten and WH Auden and ‘Let the rest of the world go by’ by Ernest Ball (composer of ‘When Irish Eyes are Smiling’, amongst others

Just at the moment, I’m exploring a lighter repertoire – not as much opera – but never fear, those songs will always be there, ready to be performed at a moment’s notice. How could I ever ignore Carmen? Some new songs on the horizon are exquisitely romantic and French – ‘Plaisirs d’amour’ by Poulenc and ‘Je te veux’ by Erik Satie. A request by Sofia from Lulworth House for ‘Sunrise, Sunset’ from Fiddler on the Roof is also being realised.

And I want to say a special and enormous thank you to my accompanists, Belinda McGlynn and Josephine Tam – two extraordinary women with talent in droves, and incredible musical sensitivity. I just love working with these two beautiful and gifted souls.