THE OperaBabes may have performed in concert halls around the globe with the world's leading orchestras and played in front of the Queen, but intimacy and informality are key to their shows.

Rebecca Knight and Karen England met when they both auditioned for the same opera company and found themselves on tour together in Mozart's The Magic Flute.

"By chance, we kept happening to work in the same companies and became good friends," says Rebecca, who spent a lot of her childhood in Bringsty Common, where her grandmother lived.

"After a time we both discovered that we really missed London, so we decided not to tour for a while. Then we had to find a way to make some money for singing lessons and said, Let's do some busking in Covent Garden'."

The rest of the story is well-recorded, how Rebecca and Karen were spotted by a talent scout and the hugely successful OperaBabes were born, but it is the busking experience that informs today's performances.

"We loved busking," says Rebecca. "It was a brilliant way to make contact with strangers, and we try to keep that same essence. We chat to the audience, and they chat back - it's a very relaxed atmosphere."

There is no such thing as a typical OperaBabes audience - "Everyone from children to grandparents come," says Rebecca. "They're not necessarily opera lovers and they can be people who don't know, or think they don't know, about classical music and then find themselves drawn in when they hear something familiar."

Accompanying the sublime music is a visual feast with glamorous frocks designed by Elizabeth Emanuel and lots of costume changes.

"Audiences love the frocks and they provoke a lot of reaction," says Rebecca, for whom next week's Courtyard appearance marks a return to the city. "I came to Hereford years ago in my touring days, with The Mikado."

OperaBabes in Concert offers an unforgettable night at the opera - no black tie required: "We just want people to come along and have a great evening's entertainment," says Rebecca.

The OperaBabes are at The Courtyard on Saturday, May 19, at 7.30pm. Book on 0870 1122330 or www.courtyard.org.uk.