I made my debut as a soloist at the Proms on Saturday. It was a pretty gentle experience, all things considered. A beautiful and relatively short a capella duet at the beginning of Debussy’s Martyrdom of St Sebastien, with the comfort of a reliable and calm co-star (Polly May), followed by a long wait for the bow. To be honest the question of what frock we should wear was the most anxiety-provoking aspect of the whole job.

Unfortunately for we two mezzo soloists, our music included a section doubled by the female chorus, so the conductor decided to stick us up the back of the stage with the chorus. Which not only made us feel miles away from the action but also meant that everyone assumed we were choristers doing a step-out rather than professional soloists in our own right. It would have been much more fun standing down the front with the soprano soloist Claire Booth, although the BBCSO horn section did their level best to keep us entertained at all times.

Most singers I know try to avoid reading their reviews, as they are often contradictory and rarely useful unless you get an amazing write-up from one of the major named critics. Here’s a pair of statements about our 60 bars in the Debussy…

Enthusiastic: “By far the finest singing came from  Polly May and Clare McCaldin  as Mark and Marcellin, commenting on events from up high above the orchestra”. (Classical Iconoclast)

Grudging: “The two mezzo-soprano soloists were (similarly) lacking in conviction at times, but generally their voices blended well together.” (Bachtrack)

Which just goes to show that the same concert can fall very differently on different ears. The major broadsheets all declined to mention us at all, each preferring to major on Olly Knussen’s errant spectacles and the ensuing repeat of Helen Grime’s Nightsongs.

So, the take-home messages from this experience would seem to be:

accept the cheque with good grace (a decent pounds-per-note ratio on this occasion) and wear a brightly-coloured dress so that at least your mum can see you and feel proud;

be grateful not to have been carrying the show. After all, how much worse must it be to be a major soloist and have people printing their subjective assessments of you and your work on a regular basis?

oh, and if you are stuck at the back with the chorus, take it on the chin when the conductor forgets to give you a bow.

That’s show business.