The full Storey

When Ian Storey met his (now) wife Bridgette, she was 'correcting his position' at the gym in Leominster where she works as a fitness instructor. Aware that they had a client who was an opera singer (it's the kind of news that travels) Bridgette had no idea that Ian was the star in her midst until their first chat over coffee.

He was then away on tour so the couple got to know one another slowly over long distance. Having played the piano and learnt ballet when she was growing up, it wasn't a culture shock for Bridgette to find herself dating one of the rising stars on the international opera circuit.

In fact, she says, it was quite nice. The couple now live on the working farm where Bridgette spent her childhood, on the outskirts of Leominster.

For Ian, born in the mining community of Chilton, Co. Durham, the countryside is where his heart is.

The 44-year-old has sung at every top opera house in Europe and regularly sings with famous names including friend and mentor, Placido Domingo.

"I met Ian when we shared the part of Hermann in a production of Pique Dame at the Teatro Real in Madrid," Placido said.

"He impressed me very much and I was convinced that he has the potential of becoming a great tenor of the dramatic repertoire.

"I offered him the opportunity to sing Siegfried in the productions of Siegfried and Gotterdammerung at the Washington National Opera."

A trained cabinet-maker and former teacher, Ian has made a success of most things he has attempted.

His family home is a 'work in progress', which he likes to spend a minimum of three months a year renovating.

Since I last visited, he has created a music studio, with views out over the fields, and knocked the sitting room through. This doesn't always lead to a happy home as Bridgette had to survive for 10 months without a kitchen - while Ian designed, built and installed their new one.

Home-making may be his real passion, though judging from the reviews he receives - you wouldn't guess that singing wasn't his first love.

2 "Life is interrupted by opera and not the other way round," he reveals.

Ian spends 70% of his year in Italy, where he has been taken to the bosom of the home of opera.

He enjoys collecting mementoes of his travels, including a street painter's portrait of his family and some beautiful, stunning masks from Venice. "Beauty isn't enough in music, you need life experience as well," Ian says.

"I've never been interested in the glamour, the diva side of the opera world.

"I like to turn up, do my job and go back home to my family."

He works hard and has a full schedule for the rest of 2006.

"Ships don't sail on past winds," is one of his mother's favourite sayings and this strong work ethic is one that he has inherited.

He says that within the family there was a strong sense that he and his brother would do well and, as they grew up, his father propelled them onwards to achieve their potential.

"There wasn't a lot of money but it did mean that I learnt the value of things," he remarks.

His musical and theatrical talents come from his father, who, he says, was a fine baritone and member of a drama club.

It's not only his voice which brings Ian acclaim, he's also commended for his acting skills and many of his leading ladies love to work with him.

However, he admits: "I'd never have thought of singing if a sports injury hadn't stopped me in my tracks in my youth."

A curious trail of serendipity led him to the international stage.

Singing with a choir in New Zealand, where he spent six years while in his 20s, a woman pressed a poem into his hand after a concert with the message that he didn't have the right to choose not to sing as a career.

He actually went on to teach but, having become head of department at an Essex comprehensive, he gave up teaching in 1990 after a pension adviser came into the school.

"Looking ahead at the rest of my career made me reassess my options," he says.

"I never wanted to look back and think 'I should have tried to make it as a singer,'.

"How do you know you're not good at something if you don't try?"

He gave his notice in the same day.

Renowned for not getting involved with the rivalry and back-biting that goes on in all small professional circles, Ian admits that there's tons of behind-the-scenes stuff which 2 goes on but which he refuses to discuss on the premise that it has a habit of coming back to bite you.

He could entertain audiences with tales of ripped costumes and larger-than-ideal leading ladies but it's the down-to-earth side of Ian's nature that is more likely to win you over.

"I have to say it's quite nice to be applauded when you enter a restaurant," he says.

"But essentially it's down to whether you think you've done your best or not."

Having sung most of the roles he has wanted to, or got them planned in his diary, Ian realises that ultimately there'll be five or six roles that he'll settle into.

For now, he likes to sing different things, to keep himself fresh.

Ian is currently singing with Bryn Terfel in the Welsh National Opera's (see www.wno.org.uk) production of Wagner's The Flying Dutchman and ambitions include recording a solo CD and expanding and developing the work he does for Acorns Children's Hospice, including the staging of two major concerts a year in aid of the charity.

To purchase a copy of the Acorn's CD 2005, which was recorded in Hereford Cathedral, visit www.ianstorey.com.

Hi diddly dee - a singer's life for me . . .

Ian remembers: The Otello makeup took nearly two hours to complete and an hour to remove. I had a full body wax so the make-up would work better - NEVER AGAIN . . .

They said it wouldn't hurt - 45 minutes of torture.

My make-up artist had to help shower me (I kept the thong on - Act four costume was a thong with Tarzan flaps and a sword!) as the make-up has a fixing spray over it that doesn't come off in water.

She had to scrub me down with a solvent before we could get to the make-up. I was always last out of the theatre and usually too late for the restaurants or bars!

I have decided never to do Otello with full body make-up again!

In the last rehearsal before the Dress (rehearsal), it was the first time in costume and we were in a rush with the make-up. I went on stage, strangled Desdemona and was standing over her when she started to howl with laughter.

She pointed and said: "They forgot to black your backside".

Sure enough, one set of white cheeks and one set of black (albeit also reddening).

It was a bit disconcerting to change out of my undies into the thong with four women standing in the dressing room with pots of make-up.

The first time I asked them to turn round. They thought this funny and it wasn't 'till later that they told me that they could see me in the mirrors!