photo: BBC Radio 3

Wilton's Music Hall in Hackney, London is the world's oldest and last surviving grand music hall.

'When Mark Dornford May and I took on Wiltons it was almost derelict. Getting it renovated and re-opening it in one of the most deprived boroughs in Europe was close to miraculous! We had 'pay as you go nights' for the local residents where they could pay as little as 50p to see some of the great operas of the world. One person left a cheque for £1000!

Its tragic that opera is perceived as such a remote art form when it can be the most dramatic way of telling a story. I used to act at University and love the theatre. Where else can your senses and imagination be stimulated on so many levels?'

As music director of Broomhill Opera, Charles conducted 15 operas including Britten's 'Turn of the Screw', Puccini's 'Il Triticco and Bizet's 'Carmen', their production of which was described by the Observer as 'the Carmen by which all others should be measured'.