Vanessa Mae on Popstar and... ski-ing

Violinist Vanessa Mae is always looking to add new strings to her bow and her latest project is the television series Popstar to Operstar, on which she’s appearing as a judge.

She told presenter Anne-Marie Minhall that being a critic is really tough, when she knows how hard all the popstars have worked:
“You cannot discount the hours of practice they’ve put into it, in a limited amount of time… At the end of the day all of them could sing an aria in their own way and put out a great cover version, but what we’re looking for is something in an operatic style, not just a cover version.”

We hear who Vanessa believes are the strong contenders as we approach the semi-finals of the series, and why Popstar to Operastar has reignited her interest in opera.

And Vanessa’s bid to represent Thailand as a skier in the 2014 Winter Olympics? She tells us about that too...

Listen to the interview now