"It is a wonderful sing, and offers a fantastic range for a lyric mezzo-soprano, and also dramatic scope.

"The acting side is just as important as singing well, so Carmen for a woman is just the best role to get your teeth into. It is very liberating. You can defy all conventions and get away with it.'' It helps, of course, that the mother-of-three truly admires the free-spirited character of the gypsy woman from whom Bizet's opera takes its name.

"Carmen fears nothing,'' she explains. "When you fear nothing you can do anything, you are unstoppable!'' Having sung the role five times before, Miss Shipp is feeling relaxed about her forthcoming performances in Bermuda, and in any case says that because she must focus so completely on Carmen's character "there is no space for nerves''.

"We all suffer from nerves, but you just turn that to your advantage,'' she says.

Secretly, however, Miss Shipp is probably hoping there will be no repeat of her most embarrassing moment when, in the last production of Carmen, her costume failed her.

"In Act II, I had to disrobe. I was dressed up in a caricature of a Spanish lady to sing a song in the tavern. I had my dress unzipped and slipped it off provocatively, then I had to slip the wig off,'' she recounts.

"The wig got stuck and the dress ripped. At the end of the Act I had to put it all back on again, but I couldn't get the dress back on and the wig was half on and half off. It ruined the whole scene, and there were titters from the audience.'' Miss Shipp's career, however, is no laughing matter. She has sung with many opera companies, mostly in leading roles, and is booked two years in advance.

Married to singer Peter Knapp, who is also her singing teacher, she has three children aged 15, nine and eight, and like all professional artists, has to strike a balance between a busy career and committment to her family.

"I am a firm believer that you must still live your own life even if you are a parent,'' she says of this juggling act. "I want to say to my children, `fulfill your dreams, fulfill your potential'.'' Clearly proud of her family, with whom she lives in Lewes, Sussex, Miss Shipp assures that having her husband as her singing teacher works well because she trusts him.

"He's good, I can recommend him,'' she quips.

Although none of the children at present show any interest in following in their parents' footsteps, they are nonetheless artistic.

"Our nine-year-old son has a fantastic voice, and we are hoping that he will use it, but we can't force him,'' the singer says. "Our daughter is a wonderful dancer, and we are hoping she will go to the Royal Ballet School, but at present they are going through a stage of not wanting to do what the parents do.'' Recalling her own childhood, when she studied ballet and played "all kinds of instruments'', Miss Shipp says that it wasn't until her late teens, when she was in a couple of musicals, that she began combining the two, and from that she decided to become a professional singer.

"It seemed the best way to combine everything that I really loved,'' she says, although she admits that, while her parents were interested in music and played the piano, they were less than enthusiastic about her career choice.

Nonetheless, the first member of her family to go into the arts followed her instincts and today has no regrets -- and neither do her parents, of course.

Not only are they "completely supportive,'' but also they attend her performances whenever they can.

Unlike the divas of old, with their enormous temperaments and grand ways, the British mezzo-soprano is friendly and unaffected, and is proud to claim that she has never fallen out with a member of any cast she has joined.

Whilst clearly aware of protecting the voice that is her livelihood, Miss Shipp also believes that there is a balance to be struck between living as normal a life as possible and veering towards becoming a hypochondriac.

"You can't let your voice rule your life, but you do have to be sensible,'' the singer explains. "I think it is best to have your instrument primed and ready to go. For me it is a question of having the whole body ready -- fit, yet relaxed, to support your voice.'' Keeping a psychological edge is also important, and Miss Shipp says it is amazing how one is able to rise to the occasion when all instincts are to give in.

"There are times when I have felt really dreadful, but as I got nearer to the performance I thought, `I can do this,' and I did. People have no idea that you are ill, and you drop afterwards.'' Asked how she is able to remember scores in so many foreign languages, the singer says it is simply a matter of understanding every word of what she is singing about before she learns to sing it.

She finds Italian the easiest, and the Slavonic and Russian languages the hardest, requiring "lots of extra homework''.

Asked how long it takes to learn a role, she smiles.

"It takes as long as you've got,'' she responds. "Ideally, you start a couple of months ahead, but I've learned a role in a week.'' Miss Shipp's first operatic appearance was in what she calls "a trouser role'' -- as the boy Cherubino in `The Marriage of Figaro' with The Opera Company.

"It was fantastic,'' she remembers. "That is a splendid mezzo role and one of all lyric mezzos want to do at some point in their careers.'' She went on to sing that role for Travelling Opera, for whom she also sang Dorabella, Rosina, Carmen and Zerbina.

Miss Shipp recently sang Carmen for English Touring Opera, and has just made her debut for Polish National Opera as Eleanor in the premiere of Roxannna Panufnik's new chamber opera, `The Music Programme.' Apart from the many operatic roles in her repertoire, the mezzo-soprano also sings contemporary and recital works as well as oratorio.

`Carmen' is set in Seville, Spain in approximately 1830, and is a tale of passion, betrayal and revenge. Produced by the British Pocket Opera Company, the lead roles will be performed by professional singers, including Bermuda's own Marcelle Clamens.

"It is going to be a fabulous production, and I hope lots of non-opera fans will come,'' Miss Shipp enthuses. "It will be a real feast whether you love opera or not. It is a fantastic dramatic story. There is something for everybody.'' `Carmen' will be staged at the Ruth Seaton James Centre for the Performing Arts from February 12 to 18 excluding February 15. For ticket information visit the Bermuda Festival box office next to the ferry terminal building on Front Street from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily except Sunday, or telephone 292-8572.