When the Carmina Burana baritone soloist collapses, Patrick steps up to save the day with a great performance. Read the full story at: www.royalalbert...
It was an incredibly tense watch, and it really was a hot night. Tom Allen kept swaying about, and I got nervous myself, thinking how awful he must be feeling, because like lots of people I've been on the platform feeling lousy, and you just hope to get through it somehow. He kept going as long as he could, but it was only a matter of time before he hit the deck. Apparently they gave Patrick a bow tie to put on his turquoise shirt and trusted that he knew what he was doing. The fact that he was carrying the score probably helped. This is a difficult part for a baritone, but he was really good.
My husband and I were actually one of the promenaders on that night. We couldn't really see what had happened - we only knew that the tenor had disappeared rather suddenly and that he was replaced by someone wearing a blue shirt!
BBC Proms August 1974. Andre Previn conducts the LSO and LSO chorus with soloists Sheila Armstrong, Gerald English, Thomas Allen and surprise soloist Patrick McCarthy.
