Debbie: Hi Lesley, how long do you practice singing a day?

LG: Hi Debbie. It depends what I'm required to do that day, the basic minimum is a warm-up routine, a physical one, involving a lot of stretching, and then a vocal warmup probably for about 15 minutes. After that, I might be required to sing for 2 or 3 hours in a rehearsal, or if it's a performance day, I may have a rehearsal with orchestra for 3 hours in the afternoon followed by a 2.5 hour performance. After a day like that I generally give my voice a day off!

Sean: I wanted to say thank you and how beautiful that programme was, both visually and musically, and I wanted to ask will it be available on DVD or CD in the near future...or at all?

LG: Most certainly. It's being released for DVD in the future. If you want a CD recording all the songs are on So Deep is the Night.

Firestone Hi Lesley, I'm a big fan of Yours, who is your most favourite composer?

LG: That's a very tough question! Hmm ...probably Handel, but I'd hate to pick one! I'm also enormously fond of Gershwin - one of the two!

Richard: Which do you prefer, performing live to an audience or doing this quite artificial type of recording? LG: Hi Richard. That's very easily answered - a live audience every time! There's nothing like the thrill of communication with a live audience.

Kate: I think you have a wonderful voice. How old were you when you started to sing?

LG: Hello Kate. I can't remember not singing. It's always the way I've expressed how I feel, from being a tiny child.

ColinM: Can you tell me what the last song was called?

LG: The last song was Bailero from Canteloube's Songs of the Auvergne, but the one played during the credits is a piano version of Nana, by de Falla, which I sang earlier. Also there's a clip of Nana on the website.

Sarah: Hi Lesley, I am 15 and have been having classical singing lessons for nearly 10 years. I have taken part in many performances and competitions and exams. I have lots of certificates and trophies too. How do I progress to what you do?

LG: Well, I would say you must work hard, obviously, and practise as much as you can, but you must also live your life as all the experiences that make us the people we are are vital when it comes to interpreting emotional, passionate music. I think it's very important to take any opportunity that is offered you to make music with others, to develop a good "ear", and any opportunity to perform should be grabbed with both hands, either in a group or solo. I recommend the National Federation of Music Festivals - don't be daunted if the adjudicator doesn't appreciate your talent - keep at it! Above all, enjoy your music!

Laura-Ann: Hello! I adore your Travelling Light album - especially Jerusalem and O Waly, Waly. If you had to pick your favourite album/piece of music - what would it be?

LG: Hello Laura-Ann. I think the last two of mine - I was particularly proud of The Singer, and now So Deep is the Night, because I love variety and contrast. I was brought up with a huge range of music at home and school, and everything from opera to folk music, oratorio to pop, we sang with each other, in small groups, singing French songs at lunchtime, and in the evenings I sang with the local rock group. I wanted to soak up all the music there was in the world when I was a child.

My last two albums, I hope, represent the cross section of the kind of music I've loved in my life. I'm particularly proud of Blackbird - possibly my favourite that I've recorded - in the style of a Bach prelude.

Ben: Hi Lesley, I am Ben and I am part of your fan club, we met at Birmingham Meet the Diva, I am the young lad who was with his grandmother. Your show was fabulous and I am singing at the moment Stabat Mater, Quando Corpus. I am also singing your Cloths of Heaven, could you tell me how breathing can be controlled in such long pieces of music?

LG: Hello Ben! That's a hard one! I'm really glad you're singing Cloths of Heaven by Karl Jenkins, it's the perfect thing for a young voice to sing. It's very clear and true. Breathing comes with practice, there's no short cuts. I trained for six years at the Royal Academy and another year at the National Opera Studio, before I got to the first rung of the first ladder of good vocal technique. The muscular fitness and stamina required to sustain a breath is what classically-trained singing is all about. Try blowing out a candle from 2 feet away, then 3 feet, then 4 feet. Then try making the candle flame flicker but not go out, so the breath is controlled and sustained, but you don't extinguish it. This shows how a fortissimo short note might be approached, and in the second case a longer more sustained phrase.

Briony: Hello Ms Garrett, your programme was sensational and I enjoyed it very much. I get moaned at for going to opera because it is seen by my friends think it elitist. Is there anything the opera fraternity can do to improve its image to people on the street?

LG: You have to keep battling away at the misconceptions and faulty stereotypes that the general public seem to have about opera. Ticket prices aren't astronomical in average houses, it's also often sung in English, and if it is in another language, there's almost always a translation in surtitles. And it is always full of good actors performing credible and powerful drama.

SarahL Hi Lesley, my Dad loves the song by Puccini - I think it's the one called Senza Mamma - will you be performing it live anywhere near London so we can come and see you?

LG: I haven't planned anything as yet - but I'll consider it favourably! I haven't made any programmes yet for the next concert series, so any suggestions for favourites I'd be glad to hear.

Lucy: Hello my name is lucy! I am 12 years old, here is my question, if you had to be anything other than a singer what would you be?

LG: Hi Lucy. (thinks) Actually, I am something other than a singer...I'm a mum. If I wasn't a singer I'd be happy just to do that. But in my spare time, I might go back to being a tight-wire walker!

Mark:Any chance of recording a duet with Pavarotti before he retires?

LG: If he asks me, I'll be on the next plane!

Mac753 When will you next appear in Scotland?

LG: Let me just check in up in my diary... back in a moment...

Host: she won't be long :)... I hope...anyone know any good songs? I think Lesley has a big house... she's back!

LG: Right here we are...I'll be in Perth on 30 May 2004, and in Carlisle (near Scotland) on 28th, hold on... I'll be in Glasgow on 7 & 9 November, and that's it for next year. But those dates are provisional - check on my website.

Susana:Thank you for a glorious performance. What is your favourite Spanish composer and how did you learn to speak Spanish so well?

LG: Ah that's kind! My favourite Spanish-speaking is probably de Falla, and also Rodrigo, both of whom are on the album and TV show. I discovered these composers in my late teens when I happened to date a succession of gorgeous guitarists! They introduced me to these composers and songs. I studied the language to speak for this album - it's a new language for me. I'm very pleased that Susannah thinks it's so accurate, I did take a lot of care. I was complimented on my Spanish when we were filming Desert Dreams in Spain! My singing teacher, Joy Mammen, is an expert in Spanish, and she coached me in those songs.

Laura-Ann: You always look amazing and have some fab frocks! Where do you get them from? :)

LG: Haha! Well, Laura ann, I thinks it's important to look as good as you can, so it's important from the start of your career, to look as fabulous as you can. In an audio visual era, and opera was the original audio visual art form, it's very important to look good.

I rely on Trevor Sorbie for my hair, and for general style advice, I have a wonderful stylist who I work with regularly, who did the costumes on Desert Dreams, she's Fontini Dimou. But the stylist on So Deep is the Night was Daniella Agnelli. And the dress on the album cover and is also in Desert Desert dreams, is by Maria Grachvogel. At the moment I'm also wearing a lot of dresses by Jenny Packham. As you can see, I like to ring the changes! For a young person, I'd recommend Monsoon, or Hennes.

Firestone: Hi Lesley, do you play any instruments other than singing?

LG: I play the piano but not very well! My daughter plays saxophone, my son the drums... and my husband plays hard to get!

Cliff: Hi Lesley, I enjoyed Desert dreams very much. There was a very emotional and spiritual dream-like approach to it all. Where did the idea for Desert Dreams come from and are you a spiritual person?

LG: The idea for Desert Dreams came from my director, David Barnard, who also directed The Singer last year. We wanted to go somewhere that was geographically a contrast to The Singer, and where the night would have a magical quality, and the desert provided this amply.

Yes, I'm a very spiritual person, I think most singers are. There's an extraordinary thing that happens during a performance, especially live. I often feel like I'm a vessel waiting to be filled with the spirit that is music, that all I am is a conduit for this magic, that it comes through me and out to you, the audience. The desert seemed to amplify that sensation.

Virginia: Who do think was your best teacher of voice?

LG: My best teacher of voice I still have lessons from twice a week - her name is Joy Mammen. Her teaching methods are very vigorous and athletic, because singing is a very physical occupation. However, it's also an occupation that needs a sensitive ear, a heart full of love, and a soul that needs to be free to fly where it must go, and Joy is wonderful at bringing all these things together for me. It might surprise some people to know that I still continue to train, but I believe, particularly because of the wide range of music that I enjoy performing, that I must continue to develop my voice and to preserve it. I don't think I've reached my peak.

Almost as important as the work I do with Joy, is the vocal maintenance work that I do, with the Speech Therapy department at Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital. There are many rules I have to be aware of in order to maintain my vocal hygiene. for instance I must drink a lot of water to keep the voice hydrated; I must exhale steam several times a day; I avoid icy food, or anything that might give me acid reflux, which is very damaging to the voice. I avoid noisy or smoky atmospheres, and most importantly, I support my speaking voice in the same way as my singing voice. It's not easy being a classically-trained lyric soprano, especially when you're a party girl! But it's worth it, of course!

Yorkie: I love your sense of humour and you sing from the soul - is this a Yorkshire trait?!

LG:Of course it is! It's the only way I know how to be!

And finally - I'd like to thank everyone who's watched Desert Dreams, and who has bought the CD So Deep is the Night. I hope that everyone enjoyed what they saw and understood the mission I'm undertaking, which is to present opera and classical music on television in an interesting, stimulating visual way to enable the music I'm passionate about to be contemporary and alive in the 21st century. I think it's so important to find modern ways of expressing ourselves through classical music, in order that this music that we all love should not die. I'm very grateful to all my fans and friends who support me and share my passion.

I'm going to be in Yorkshire (where else!) for Christmas, with my huge and wonderful Yorkshire family, and I hope you all have as happy a Christmas as I know I'm going to have. Lots of love - Lesley.

All Lesley Garrett's concert engagements are listed on her personal websiteThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites