The chorus is one of the building blocks of opera, and a very big block too (some operas, like 'War and Peace', seem to be all chorus). They're the people that give an opera its feel and its look. Is the show about bandits? Then the men's chorus come on with guns stuck in their belts. Is it set in the 18th century? Then the ladies' chorus fill up the stage in enormous hooped skirts.

Chorus members have to highly skilled. The basic requirement is musical. The chorus must be able to sing, sight read and have a good ear for languages. Opera at the Royal Opera House (ROH) is nearly always sung in the original language and the chorus have to sing in Italian, German, French, Russian, Polish, Czech – as well as Latin, ancient Egyptian and a whole range of nonsense languages. The English libretto of 'Peter Grimes' must be a nice change.

You have to be able to act too. Most members of the chorus don't go through acting school but are thrown on stage as noblemen, gangsters, hermits, whatever, in their first month. How do they do it? One member of the chorus said that the secret is not to be embarrassed, especially by your costume. The moment you're embarrassed, you're spotted by the audience. Once you have learnt to live with powdered wigs, tail coats, body stockings and loads of make-up, you're fine. The other important skill is learning to work as a group, getting a group dynamic. Sometimes the whole chorus feel tired and they have to lift themselves, and each other, for the show.

'Peter Grimes' is a big chorus show and, in the new production, the chorus move as one big menacing block. They also have to dance - another skill they’re often called upon to demonstrate. They had to put in a lot of rehearsal time to get all this right. There was a week or so in the Chorus Rehearsal Room (learning the music by heart) and four and half weeks of production rehearsal: three weeks in the studio, one and a half on stage, (all this with other operas to rehearse at the same time), and then all the performances to get through. One of the chorus explained that the job just took over. Most of the evenings are booked and, what with extra rehearsals, you couldn't plan for anything. But every now and then he gets a whole day off – and goes fishing.