Future Classic Women Awards – Dr Olga Thomas, Joanna Forest, King Charles’ Coronation

Hello and welcome to the 5th edition of Future Classical Women Awards with me, Stefania Passamonte, on Women's Radio Station, the program where we search for the most amazing new female artists on the classical panorama. Today is a very special episode, um, with two wonderful guest nominees of and winners of Future Classic Women Awards, Olga Thomas and Joanna Forrest. Hello! Hello, hello, hello! Thank you so much for joining us today. This is a very special episode, is dedicated to the coronation of our new King Charles III, and we are gonna be starting our interview with your latest single that is in celebration of the coronation called His Noble Crown. Um, Olga, would you like to tell us about this song? Oh, I so much enjoyed writing it. It's my first one for King Charles, and as you know, I have this long-term project running with a Cruise Bereavement Support, wonderful charity where Her Majesty, our late Queen, was patron. And I compose private musical gifts for the royal household. To commemorate every event in their lives. And my last album was released on Her Majesty's Jubilee weekend. It was in June, which had all my royal pieces. And then after Her Majesty died, I did one more piece called her Platinum Crown single, which is instrumental piece. It was my last one, and I thought that it is very important to continue this wonderful tradition, to continue writing music for the Royal Household, and to donate 100% proceeds to the charities, which I think is very important. And I thought it is really crucial to do the piece for coronation and to welcome our new king, King Charles III. It's his era now, and I really wanted to make a special piece, His Noble Crown, to celebrate the coronation. And I was delighted that Joanna was able to do vocals with her magic voice. That's absolutely wonderful. I mean, we're gonna listen 4 of your songs, best-selling, uh, number 1 in the charts, um, and that started What was the very first song that you worked on together? For Joanna or for me to answer? For Joanna. Yeah, both of you. Well, we, we first worked together on Raw Platinum Love Song in 2017, which was amazing. It's such a beautiful song and we recorded it at Angel Studios, which I think is no longer due to the pandemic, but it was such a wonderful studio. And we had that huge orchestra, didn't we, Olga, which was just so— oh, absolutely magical. It was so magical. And we had wonderful Daniel Cook sing the vocals as well. And it's— I think, Olga, you just created such an extraordinary piece. With Royal Platinum Love Song. And I think now that unfortunately it's so sad that we've lost Her Majesty and Prince Philip, it almost feels even more special and a privilege to have recorded that. Because, um, now I think we were celebrating 70 years of their wonderful love story then, but now I feel like it's some special legacy, uh, to their wonderful marriage. Yes, I absolutely agree. And doesn't it feel like it's— it is that connection, this amazing marriage on different level, in another world? Like, you know, like this connection. Now they're joined together and it is on different level. They're again two halves of one, isn't it? Yes. Um, what, what impressed me the most, I've seen other couples that have been together their whole entire life and one of, one of the two pass away, the other one follows, you know, not long after. That's somehow what happened with Prince Philip and Her Majesty the Queen. And that is the power of love, isn't it? So where their life, their souls wants to be together. Um, yeah, yes, absolutely. I absolutely agree. I think, you know, when someone's been by your side for all those years and She, what did she call him, her strength and stay. It just must have been such an upheaval for that to have happened. But now hopefully they are together and their love story is continuing somewhere else. Absolutely. And that is what I strongly want to believe. And we have all the reasons to. But I mean, now we have this fantastic event that is going to happen very soon. Um, so where, where are you gonna be for the coronation, uh, day? Will you be in London? Will you be celebrating with friends? Will you be watching on the television? I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be watching on the television. I have huge, huge admiration for the, the supporters who sort of line the Mall. They're their flags. I love them because watching it on the TV, it gives it so much atmosphere and really adds to it that all these people are there taking part and being part of it. Um, but like, me personally, I've never actually, um, sort of, um, done the whole 'I'm, I'm gonna go to Buckingham Palace.' Like, I haven't actually— I'm gonna watch the, you know, I'm gonna watch The King's journey to Westminster Abbey. But I do love watching them, and I love it when they're presenting and the host pick out certain people and they're like, yeah, I've come from Australia. Or it's just incredible, isn't it? The amount of support they get. Yes, it is really very, very special, and it makes sense when you watch it on TV. You see the whole event. It's very special, and I'm going to watch it on TV. As well, um, in, in my London home. Fantastic. Well, I remember when we had the Queen Jubilee, um, we had the big party with my neighbors in our, um, common garden, and it was so special, uh, to be celebrating this together. And, you know, my neighbors are from France, from, uh, from Italy like me, from America. So we are from different parts, but somehow that something that keeps us together and makes, um, this idea of being British, uh, so unique, I think. Because we all come from countries where there is no king. Yeah. And this is somehow the fairy tales that, um, you know, I kept this, this, um, country so, um, strong, you know, in the mind of everyone to be watched, you know, thinking about uh, even from King Arthur, you know, and the Round Table with the knights. And, um, so the, the, the history is so long. It's so— the history is incredible. And what we're going to be seeing with the coronation is we're going to be alive to see a crucial part of history. And what we'll also be seeing is all those traditions we get to see it. Um, yes, that happened again and again, and now it's sort of our turn to be part of it. And I just think that's really exciting. It's very exciting, absolutely. And it's lifetime event, and we have to be ones to witness it. Isn't it so special? And even to contribute with our Absolutely. Well, let's listen then, um, his Noble Crown composed by Olga Thomas and sung by our wonderful guest Joanna Forrest. Let's from above, with God's benevolence, a gracious sovereign On us conferred, Haroldus Rex, Edei Defensor, proclaim with exultation, George III, Rex Degratia Britanniae. Hanyaharem, Omningam Charles the Third. Oh, may they reign, our king and queen anointed, as prominent anointed never were before. Tales tell of Jacob's lambs before the time when that fateful storm assailed the lambs. Let's touch base in October. Let's touch base in October. Amazing. And this was his noble crown, composed by Olga Thomas and sung by Joanna Forrest in honor of the coronation of King Charles III. I mean, now I have a very tricky question, Olga. How does the inspiration come to you? Like, you know, I read an interview about Tchaikovsky, and he said that every morning he would sit down at the piano and he would get the inspiration. He was so lucky that the muse of music would come to him and whisper, if you like, all those new beautiful tunes. Does that happen for you as well, or particularly when you want to compose for a special occasion? Um, that takes a longer time. Yes, you know, Stefani, it's interesting. I, I am very lucky because somehow I have a very good relationship with my muse, and sometimes I can, when there are special occasions, I sort of send little request invitation, and muse been very, very supportive and usually comes. When there are special occasions. To be honest, I'm always composing something subconsciously since I remember myself since my childhood. I always joke that I have like a background application which is running in my head. Whatever you see, whatever some event, some conversation, some visual images immediately give something and If I think it really knocks at the door and wants to be released, I let it come out and give it freedom to be my next piece. Wow. But for special occasions, it is certainly— you have to put your mind what you want to do. And with this one, I just wanted it to be— I wanted it to be a celebration. I wanted it to be a happy piece, uplifting piece. Regal, like state music, epic romantic. Joanna gave absolutely lovely name, sort of hashtag to this piece and a lot of other my royal pieces. She calls it— how do— what do you call it, my dear? State romantic. It's a very good description. Yes, amazing. And this is coming out when exactly? 4th of May. So it's available on all platforms. We recommend everyone to download it, stream it. All the, um, all the income from this song are gonna go to the very special charity that Olga Thomas represented that is the Can you, can you say it for us, Olga? So the charities that for that occasion, there are two charities, so which are beneficiaries. One is Cruise Bereavement Support, which is the one where our late Queen was Royal Patron for many, many years. Yeah, and so 50% goes to them and 50% goes to Royal Navy Royal Marines Charity, which is always on my list of very special ones, very close to my heart. And a lot of pieces I composed were recorded by the Royal Marines Band, Royal Band Portsmouth. And this piece, His Noble Crown, was arranged and produced by a wonderful former Marines, Michael MacDermott, yeah, he calls himself Mac. His name Michael MacDermott, who is former Marine. He is a wonderful arranger, and producer is Tom Hoch, MBE, who is also former Marine and who was arranger for my— for most of my pieces for the album Jubilation and for the album Royal Platinum Jubilee Celebration with Olga Thoms' last album. So we have very strong connections with Marines Marines and their wonderful charity supporting families of Marines. Yeah, wonderful. Well, um, so I, I predict that this song might become a new number one. I mean, it's— you are just making strings of success one after another. And when you have a fantastic composer like Olga Thomas and a singer with a beautiful voice like Joanna Forest, I guess that's Easy. Now, Joanna, tell me a little bit. The next song we're gonna listen, so, is the very first one, as we mentioned before, of your collaboration with, um, Olga. That is the Royal Platinum Love Song. Um, now, that was your first number one song, or you had others before? Well, um, my debut album, Stars Are Rising, um, in March of 2017 got to number 1 in the classical iTunes chart and the official UK classical chart, which is really exciting because I was the first independent artist to do that with a debut album. So that was really exciting. And that's what brought me together with Olga, because you heard that, didn't you, Olga? And then invited me to sing sing on your beautiful, beautiful, beautiful Royal Platinum Love Song. And then that was my first number one single, which was really exciting. We were so delighted, weren't we? It was just— Oh yes, it was our first number one together. And to add what you were saying, yes, I heard your lovely album and I was composing Royal Platinum Love Song with your voice in my head. Oh, that's so special. That makes me so happy. Yes, me too. That's indeed very special. Now, Joanna, have you been doing, um, something else between— I know you've been doing a lot, but you need to tell— we need to tell our audience. But what was the latest, uh, things? I know you've been collaborating with the Classical— with the Crossover magazine. And, um, yeah, how is that? Going. Yeah, so, um, I think lockdown and COVID sort of made all of us maybe sort of go into different directions that we might not have explored, and I just had the idea to write, start writing a column for Classical Crossover Magazine. Um, it's such a wonderful magazine, and Natasha, the editor, I think it does such a wonderful job of shining a light on, you know, a very unique genre. And I love it because it brings all the classical crossover, like, music appreciators, like, all together. So I decided that a column about the highs and the lows, you know, to be really honest about what is it like being an independent artist in the music industry. And yeah, I've, and I've, I've really enjoyed it. It's, it's something that I didn't, you know, envision myself doing, but, um, but I've really loved it. It's fun sort of sharing news and, um, you know, and hopefully it's, it's interesting to people who might not sort of know what's involved being an independent artist, because, um, there is a lot involved, isn't there? There's many hats to be worn and learning about new things and finding out stuff that you, that you might not have known about. So I've really enjoyed writing that and collaborating with the magazine. And I also started in lockdown my own radio show. So being a presenter like you, Stefania, which is really fun. And I've, you know, I've got to interview some amazing people, of course. Olga was a guest on, um, Classical Gas on Great British Radio. And I've had people like, um, Leslie Garrett. I had David from Il Divo, which was very exciting. And, um, Lea Salonga, who's a musical theater actress who has always been, you know, just so— like, I've admired her ever since, you know, I first went to see Miss Saigon. So there's been some great moments, um, great moments doing that. And also in lockdown, I recorded, um, a version of World in Union, um, for, um, Sergeant Matt Ratner, who, um, unfortunately— I don't know if you remember the news story— he died in the line of duty at Croydon Police Station, um, which was terribly sad. I had a mutual friend and we recorded the song to kickstart his foundation and to be the music for, um, his BBC Unsung Hero nomination, which he went on to win, which was fantastic. But I felt very proud to, to be a part of that. And that sort of taught me or reinforced in me that music has got really special powers, and one of them is that it can heal. And I feel that that song really, really did that. And me and Joel Hick, the orchestration, are are really proud that we could help the friends and family in some way. Um, and it just amazes me how music can do that. So Olga, I really feel that you've created with His Noble Crown, you've created something that people can celebrate. You've created such a celebration, and I think that really comes, comes across in, in the song. Um, and I just find it amazing how I always thought music has special powers, but there's— the longer that I'm sort of involved in music and the music industry, I I just know that to be true. Yeah, that is true, and I absolutely agree. Music has this amazing healing power. It can give you consolation. It can, you know, when I work with Cruz Bereavement Care, that is part of, you know, supporting people even with a personal loss when they loved one. Music is fantastic way to commemorate. That was the first— my first meeting with Her Majesty. It was the piece in memory of her mother. Oh, beautiful. Yeah, so yeah, Themes of Life and Glory, which was, you know, an instrumental piece. But this is her first thing which happened. It was, you know, presented to Her Majesty by a cruise, and I did presentation myself. But it was the way to celebrate life, you know. That is— so music can do fantastic things. Absolutely. Well, let's listen then, the Royal Platinum Love Song. There was the very first song that brought together Joanna and Olga, and dedicated to the Platinum Jubilee and to the incredible love between Her Majesty the Queen and Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philippe. Two people in a play that ran their whole life through. All along the way, the love has traveled through. Two characters today who near a dear-a-crew to share every scene on cue. Two people in a play, so glad to be together. There is so much to love, so little to regret. See that every dawn, the day lights up and the air is bright. Salute each of singing here with honor. Take a brief reprieve to people with a song. So glad to be together in US. A master love so little to regret. With every dawn, the daylight softens, and he ever saw the dawn has come. The day has come. And life goes on. Absolutely beautiful. This was Royal Platinum Love Song performed by Joanna Forrest and composed by our guest Olga Thomas. So beautiful. Now let's Let's talk a little bit about your next project. Do you already have new plans, or, you know, after having done such majestic things like composing this song for the King's coronation, you're gonna take a break, for example, going on holiday? I mean, I know, Olga, you are already somewhere. That is impressive. I think you should share. I don't know many people that do what you're doing this very moment while we're talking. On Future Classic Women Awards. So tell us where you are. Yes. So, Joanna, darling. Yes. What are your next projects? Oh, gosh. I would love to do— well, I love recording. I love going into the recording studio. Olga had such a lovely time when we went into the recording studio to do his Noble Crown. I always find it really exciting. I always find it like really creative. So I would, I would love to, would love to record another Joanna Forrest album. Um, definitely. Um, and I always love singing live at live performances. Um, so, you know, whether that's, you know, at a, um, even if, even if it's just like a a corporate event. I just absolutely love it. Olga, you're on a cruise right now. I went on a cruise, um, earlier this year, and that was, that was fun singing and seeing, seeing the sights as well. Um, so yeah, I'll just see where, where, what, where this year takes me. And I feel quite optimistic that maybe we're kind of back on our feet after the whole COVID thing. Hopefully, I think people are having more confidence to go and see things, more confidence to go in and book things. So, you know, hopefully that's, that's now in the past and we can look forward to, to a future where the entertainment industry isn't in, you know, such dire straits. Yeah, I agree with you. I mean, and I've noticed so many events has happened. I've been so busy, um, going to so many awards, concerts, celebrations, black-tie events. And somehow it feels like we are back of what we were, where we were before the pandemic. But even more, it feels like somehow we're trying to recuperate those 2 years of being, you know, all alone, and now being all together all the time. Yes, I totally agree with that. Definitely, I feel that too. Exactly the same. And also we add to what is happening now our experience which we had in pandemic, because all what we discovered, all what was open to us with this limitation, would bring all this wonderful— horrible but wonderful experience. Because the way how we survived and how we continued being creative, you know, exploring a lot of ways of doing things online. So That's what I mean by new avenues. And speaking of future projects, I think I will listen to the muse, what direction a muse will show me, and any event will be coming, then definitely I will be doing it, of course. But meanwhile, I never mind, you know, I would love to do something And if it is something for vocals, I mentioned I will write it again somehow, I feel, with Jonas' voice in my head. That's very nice. Now I have another question. You know, when you're writing instrumental, you have in mind the voice of the instrument somehow, so you're mixing them in an incredible way. But when you're writing a song, you also need to think about the lyrics of the song. Sometimes the lyrics are as important as the music because they convey, um, so I did write a few songs and I can tell you it's very difficult. I normally write both the music and the words. Somehow they come together. I don't know how. It's the famous muse that just whisper into your, into your ears and suddenly you have a song. Um, so for you, is it the same or you have someone else writing the lyrics for your songs? I have someone else writing lyrics, and it is for Royal Platinum Love Song and for his novel Crown. It is Adam Ferguson, who is absolutely wonderful, brilliant. I would call him poet rather than lyricist because— yes, yeah, they are. Yeah, his words are like a poem, and It's just poem which is sung, yeah? When we have more like love songs, ballad type of music, it is very often Adrian Warwick, so who did our— who did words for our other two pieces, which is By My Side and Flowers on the Doorstep. And so those are my two main lyricists whom I use. I, I want— no, on two occasions I did words myself, but it was for comic songs, which it's a very different style and genre. So I did— gosh, I would like to listen to a comic song. We don't have it today, but next time definitely. I love anything that makes you laugh. I think laughing is the best tool you can have to release stress, of course, and to relax. So, um, I— my favorite, um, way to relax is watching stand-up comedy. And, uh, you know, normally they say very clever things. They, they are giving you a critique of our society, of politicians, of, you know, um, life that we live every day in a very clever way. So I do believe stand-up comedians are super intelligent persons. You have to be so bright to be that observant in a humorous way. He's so clever. You have to be able to laugh. And what is interesting that when my Royal Album Jubilation was produced, Royal Marines choose to add as a finale of the album, which is so serious and has all the royal pieces, my comic song called Insecurity Alert. So they just liked it so much that they added it, and they said it's very— it was their tradition to add something funny at the end of serious thing when they did something for the Queen, and they decided to add this piece. So I can't believe, but it went on my first royal album. That's very special. Yeah, but that's exactly what we do as well with the Future Classic Women Awards. The last part normally is the one dedicated to the funny episodes that we're gonna talk about after, uh, the Jubilee song By My Side. Um, but before, so I wanted to ask you, you know, finishing this concept, so when you write the song, do you already have the title in mind and then the lyricist do you develop this concept into the lyrics of the song? Or I don't know, the lyricist come to you with the beautiful poem and you decide to write the music for it? I tell you that maybe what you mentioned, it would be the right way to do it, but in my case, absolutely, I start with music. Sorry to say, my huge apology to the lyricists for being so I don't know, is it selfish or whatever it is, but whatever. No, it's the way it is. The way it is. I usually do music and poor lyricists have to fit into my music. Yeah, but I'm very flexible. I can do certain changes, but usually it is music, which— not usually, always it is music which comes first, and then they do lyrics. Speaking of the title, I have a working title always. Which gives me an idea. Sometimes it is absolutely spot on and I don't want to change it. Sometimes final title comes later and after the whole piece is done, put together, after lyrics are done, and that is how it is. We always work on title. Sometimes it stays and becomes real one, final, or we change it in the final but with lyrics, yes, they have to follow me, sorry to say. Absolutely. Well, let's listen now, uh, "By My Side," the Jubilee song composed by, um, Olga Thomas and sung by our, um, winner of Future Classical Opera Awards previous editions, Joanna Forrest. You walk beside me like a shining light above. Bright from the sunrise to the sunset of our love. Cold traveled through me when We said a last goodbye. I know you're still by my side. You're so beside me. You're my guiding light. Aba. Magical sunrise till the moon bows to our love. Now in the evening when we had to say goodbye, I know you're still by my side. Dreams and a million more reflect memories I still hold. I dream you're by my side and will always follow you. Vamnais, take me over distant seas to send me where your heart is and the place you wait for me. You're so beside me. You're my guiding light above. And we'll meet again someday. Fantastic! This was, um, By My Side, the Jubilee song composed by Olga Thomas and sung by our wonderful Joanna Forrest. So now, Joanna and Olga, we are on the last length of our Future Classics Women Awards, and we already talked about the next project and, you know, I think the biggest one is actually to be able to meet with King Charles III and maybe offer this beautiful song to him, as it happened before for you when you met the Queen. Now, do you have— I was reading, you know, about people saying how they made— they were so embarrassed or so excited of meeting the royals. That, you know, they, they, they didn't manage to be their best self. Um, did it happen for you, or you were, um, somehow prepared? And you, you, you know, you remember that moment as a wonderful moment? Um, I remember that as a wonderful moment. I was overwhelmed. I was very happy, but I was not embarrassed. I was quite looking forward to it. It happened suddenly in my case because I didn't expect it. I was invited to, to attend their wonderful event by Cruz Bereavement Support at St. James's Palace, event hosted by our late Queen, and I knew that my CD will be given to Her Majesty as a gift, but I didn't realize that it will be me who will be given that gift. Yeah, and when I went to the palace, practically everybody was given some sort of number and saying which group they have to join, and I didn't have any number, and I decided that maybe I was invited by mistake. I was speaking of insecurity. I was hearing my music played by lovely royal harpist. It was, you know, bringing tears into my eyes, but I thought maybe still my music could be here, but maybe I wasn't invited because I don't have enough. And then one of the organizers came to me and told me that I have to stay in the middle because I will be given the CD to Her Majesty, and they very quickly had to teach me how, what is the etiquette, what I should do, when, how. And I think because it was such a brief, you know, course of etiquette, I didn't have time. A crash course. Yes, I just had to concentrate on doing everything right. It was very special, and I was so happy. And I was told that most likely Her Majesty will just, you know, smile and take, take the CD. And yeah, but to my great surprise, Her Majesty decided to talk to me. And I certainly didn't have any time to go into mental state of insecurity anymore because I had to deal on the, you know, in the right. And we had quite a long conversation. It was about our mothers, what it meant to us, about Cruz, and about the idea of celebrating, um, celebrating life, you know, as a memory. So that was very special and unforgettable. Very special. And I think Her Majesty's smile, um, it just brought special amazing glow, and you felt in this glow, and it is unforgettable. That was my experience. Olga, that is a memory you will treasure for the rest of your life, isn't it? Definitely, definitely, because it, it, it was absolutely amazing. And the person Her Majesty was and will remain absolutely unique. And yes, I completely agree. There won't be anyone like her, will there? No, no. And that is a great honor which I cherish now even more when she's in another world. Absolutely. That's such a beautiful story. It is indeed. And you, Joanna, did you meet any royal? I, in a roundabout way, when I, when I was very young, um, our school Italia Conti always used to take part in the Children's Royal Variety Performances, or the Royal Variety Performances. Oh wow, we would do like various things, like we might be part of a choir, or we might do a little dance. Um, it was always really exciting for us because at the end they usher you onto the stage, and because you're only children, you know, right at the back. But you can still see exciting people, like the famous people. You're like, oh my gosh, there's Cliff Richard, there's Lulu. Um, and you know, sometimes we'd, we'd be, um, seeing people like, you know, politicians would have been in the audience and would come and say, say hello and everything. And one time, um, Prince Charles, um, had been in the audience and he was shaking everybody's hand, but it was very kind of him. He made a special effort to come to the back of the stage, and he just smiled at us and said, "Isn't it past your bedtime?" It's just so wonderful. I absolutely love this story. It shows again this wonderful warm sense of humor, and this is what, yeah, again makes him a very special person. Absolutely. And also consideration, you know, for the little one. I went to see my daughter singing in the choir. It was a festival of the primary school choirs, and there was these children, uh, you know, age 5, because, you know, from here reception year 1 to 10, 11, 10. And, and they all had these little faces. Some of them, they were so, um, shy. It was painful to watch them. And, you know, they were all just holding their hands and being the little thing, but they did singing. And others, they were instead very excited. You could tell that they could be one day on a West End stage. But what was amazing, it was to hear their voices and see them all together, um, sharing this passion for singing. And, um, I don't know, I just— made me cry. I think I might be too soft, to be honest, but I just could not cry, you know, watching them and thinking that they all looked like little angels. Because children are all, you know, little angels. And, and bringing out their souls through the music, through the choir. I, I think there is nothing more special than that. So maybe, um, Prince Charles saw that and that's why he came to the back and spoke to you little children, you know, behind the very famous people. That's very true. I have to say, I don't think we were little angels. I think we were a bit more stagey. But yeah, it was, it was very kind kind of him and things like that. I still remember it. So it does make an impression. Mm-hmm. Well, it's incredible. Sometimes, you know, the memory of our childhood shapes us for the future, isn't it? And when was the first time you went on stage, um, um, Joanna? So for me, it was, well, when I was, I still properly, um, because I'd done things because I always knew that I wanted to be on stage and I wanted to be an actress. So I'd done some kind of, you know, like you know, like in the Easter holidays I'd sort of like dabbled in things. But oh really, it wasn't, wasn't until I went to Italia Conti as my school instead of a normal school, um, but that's when we got to do really cool things. Um, and so I think my first time of properly being on stage was probably definitely one of the children's Raw Varieties or Raw Varieties on, and they were always at the Dominion Theatre, which which was huge, which was really exciting. Oh, I know, it's the one in Tottenham Court Road, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. But my first, like, professional, like, when you, like, where I actually got paid, which blew my mind, was when I was 13 and I was in Bernadette the Musical, which was at the Dominion Theatre again. And it's gone down in history— I shouldn't really say this, but it has— as being one of the biggest musical flops ever to be in the West End. No way, really? Yeah, it was. So, um, for me it was a dream. I don't know whether it was good or not. I don't think you know at that age, but all I knew was that after school, um, me and the other girls who were in the show would be escorted by a chaperone to the Dominion Theatre, which was— blew my mind. I looked forward to it all day. And I was one of Bernadette's little friends, and I just loved it. I had a couple of solo lines. Oh, wow. And then couldn't really understand why the show came to an end, maybe after 4 weeks, when they'd booked out the Dominion Theatre for, like, months. But I think they maybe were a bit ambitious with such a huge theater then. Yeah, which was, which was a huge shame because, um, there's some beautiful music in there if anybody's interested in checking out Bernadette the Musical. Um, but that was my first time of getting paid, and I just thought, yep, this is the job for me, definitely. I can't believe this is, this is something that, that I get to do. So that kind of reinforced it, and I because I've done it from a young age, you sort of get more excited than scared, if that makes sense, or nervous. And for you, Olga, when was the first time you heard that your piece is performed by someone? Uh, it was of course when, when I was young, it was performed at the school where I was studying, sometimes other Pupils performed it, but to— when it properly, officially, when I came to England. And every time it was getting more and more exciting because at first I heard it when it was a RADA production. I was for 18 years working at RADA, collaborating with the principal of RADA then, Nicholas Barker, whenever he had directed productions, it's usually last year when you have to have professional production, you have actors there, yeah, when it is last year, but usually designer and in his case composer. He was saving budget to have me every time for final, yeah. It was first time very exciting, then I heard it On, then I heard it at West End production of The Cherry Orchard with wonderful Susanne York as Lily Park. That was very, very exciting. Then I heard it on radio, on the BBC. Then I heard it on TV. But I will be honest, the most exciting was when I heard it at St. James's Palace. Yeah, it's very special. And I would say that I very much like hearing it on women radio station. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Well, unfortunately, we're already at the end of our interview. The time flies so quickly. So we're gonna listen to the last track of today, that is "A Flower on the Doorstep," before we say goodbye. Journey to the land and sea with a warm wind sealed in my heart. The stars that shine in the sky always lead me. Me back to you. Whether turning left or right, I feel so alive and free. My sunshine in the sky, and my hopes and dreams will fly. The warmth of this place, it gathers in my soul. Where flowers love that old step, wait for me. I sit with a heart that is never alone, and flowers on the doorstep wait for me. Summers come and summers go. I count the blessings I receive. Winds of change blow in my Life, memories I've made stay with me. Doves are singing in the trees, songs of love. Hallelujah, I say. My rambles around this world of memory. Flowers on the doorstep. White flowers. So beautiful. This was, uh, Flower on the Doorstep by our special guest of Future Classical Women Awards, Olga Thomas, the composer, and Joanna Forrest, the beautiful voice we just heard. If you have any questions that you would like to ask to our guest or nomination for our Future Classical Women Awards, please email presenters@womensradiostation.com or tweet us @WomensRadioSTN. A very big thanks to our guests Olga Thomas and Joanna Forrest for the great chat and the beautiful music played today. It's been wonderful having you back at Future Classical Women Awards. Ah, thank you, Stefania. Thank you, Stefania, for inviting us. We love appearing at your program. You're very welcome. You're two of my favorite guests. And nominees of Future Classical Women Awards on Women's Radio Station live every day at 10 AM and 10 PM London time. And if you would like to listen to it again or catch up on their previous interview, you can head on my presenter's page, Stefania Passamonte, Future Classical Women Awards on womensradiostation.com. Thank you for listening.