Coat check attendant plucked from the sidelines to sing at London concert hall
Milly Forrest, who usually works as a coat check attendant at London's Wigmore Hall, was chosen to fill in for a soprano who called in sick.
The 23-year-old woman was in London without her cellphone the day director John Gilhooly called to offer her the opportunity of a lifetime.
When you want to do something that bad somehow you just find the time to learn it and adrenaline kicks in.- Milly Forrest, soprano
"Probably the worst day to be out of contact. I got home that evening and I had, you know, 10 missed calls,'" Forrest told As It Happens guest host Mike Finnerty.
"I rang the director John straight away and he said, 'You're just in time. We were just about to call somebody else.'"
He told her that soprano Ruby Hughes had tonsillitis and he needed her to be ready to perform Hughes' part onstage in two days.
"I was ecstatic," she said. "I couldn't quite believe what I was hearing."
Forrest wasn't chosen totally at random. She is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music and she'd auditioned for Gilhooly six months prior.
"When I auditioned for him, he had some very nice things to say, but he sort of said, 'You know, you're very young and this needs work,'" she said.
"But he did say that he would really kindly bear me in mind for anything small that came up. So I think I was maybe on his radar and then this happened."
She was nervous about the gig, but she was also familiar with the music and the venue, where she worked two nights a week seating people, hanging coats, and signaling to the performers when it's time to hit the stage.
"I know the stage really well because I've cleaned the piano on stage before, and after the concert it's my job to pick up the bits and pieces that are on the stage," she said.
"I think for a lot of the singers it was really shocking for them to see me singing alongside them. They didn't treat me like I was too young to be there or anything like that. They were really lovely."
The 23-year-old's solo performance of Purcell's If Music Be the Food of Love was met with rave reviews.
"Forrest, with her silvery tone, sounded exquisite," wrote Tim Ashley, the Guardian's opera and classical music critic.
"Her singing has an unspoilt innocence and humility," wrote Guy Holloway of ClassicalSource.com.
Fans were equally enthusiastic, with one person posting online: "Milly Forrest did a splendid job, and I don't just mean a splendid job under the circumstances," according to the Telegraph.
"I always say to young artists that you never know when the phone is going to ring and you must be ready," Gilhooly told the Evening Standard. "I thought she did really well. It was beautiful."
Forrest, meanwhile, is still basking in the glow of the spotlight.
"When you want to do something that bad somehow you just find the time to learn it and adrenaline kicks in," she said.
"I'm completely overwhelmed by how lovely everyone has been. This may never happen again, so I'm just going to enjoy it while it lasts."