When her left hand was permanently damaged in a car accident that occurred while returning from a rugby match with her boyfriend, she switched to singing as her main subject.
She studied with Ernest Dennis and Adelheid Armhold, obtaining Teachers and Performers Licentiate Diplomas from Unisa and UCT.
It was in these early years that Talbot had the opportunity to sing in a production of Orpheus at the Little Theatre with Albert Coates conducting the orchestra.
During her career as a singer, which extended more than thirty years, she sang leading roles in over 500 performances of 28 operas as well as concerts and broadcasts in South Africa, Namibia, Zambia, England, Scotland and Italy.
She joined the UCT Opera Company on their tour to Great Britain and Scotland for The Festival of Music and Musicians from South Africa in 1956.
In England she sang in the first British stage performance of Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle as well as the role of Magda in Menotti's The Consul in London and Glasgow.
Stellenbosch University offered her a position at the Conservatorium of Music as lecturer in Singing and she returned to South Africa to launch her new career as academic.
In July/August 1984 she accepted an invitation to conduct master classes and lectures at Melbourne University and the National Conservatoire of Music and Opera in Sydney, Australia.
1n 1990 she was invited to serve on an HSRC Committee to plan a new format for teaching singing in universities and technikons in South Africa.