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What is the most important thing in an opera singer’s career?
As in any other career, true professionalism is vital – in our case that means technique released through the soul and transfigured into a perfect form.
Being a professional singer requires a specific regime. Are there any personal techniques you use to stay in peak vocal form?
The life of a musician is in many ways like that of a sportsman: daily training under the supervision of a good trainer and following a regime. Then a long career and fame are ensured.
What would your advice be to young singers just starting out on their careers?
I believe it’s useless to give young people advice. Youth has that quality of self-confidence – until they make their own mistakes they won’t listen to advice anyway.
You appear in different countries and at different theatres. Which do you like most of all?
The Mariinsky Theatre, of course. This is the thirty-fourth season that I have been performing on my home stage and it’s still a great pleasure. It is a beautiful building not just architecturally but, first and foremost, because there are so many people dear to my heart here who devote themselves one hundred percent to our common task.
Which female role do you consider to be the most difficult psychologically?
For me that’s definitely Marfa in Khovanshchina. I’ve always found it terrifying to appear in that role, she’s such an unassailable monument. With the very restrained vocal line you have to portray this strong, faithful and passionate young woman, a loving and suffering heroine. Now that I’ve answered your question, I remember a phrase from the role of Marfa – “It would seem there has been enough bookishness!”
Is there a difference between great Russian opera singers and great western opera singers?
I don’t think there are different degrees of greatness. And they all have the same claim to being part of world culture.
What has your most vivid musical impression been?
Concerts by the Leningrad Philharmonic, Honoured Ensemble of Russia, under Yevgeny Mravinsky. I always tried never to miss a single one. The first time I was at a concert at the Great Philharmonic Hall I experienced that surprising feeling that could be called “shock.”
Do you have any favourite roles or composers? Which ones?
I definitely don’t have any favourite roles, but regarding composers I’d have to say they are Wagner, Mahler and Musorgsky and that one of my favourite operas is Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh...
Do you often attend concerts as a member of the audience?
Not often, but I do go sometimes. I only go to see people I know and I don’t have so very many free evenings that I would risk wasting them.
Does music take up all your time or do you still have the strength for anything else? Do you have any interests that you dedicate a lot of time to?
I love to travel and it doesn’t matter if it’s a virtual world, the Himalayan mountains or small European towns with their unique architecture. I also cherish a dream of having a dog and taking up windsurfing.
Are you interested in modern music? Which period do you feel the strongest tie to musically?
I really love Prokofiev but I’m probably not ready for anything more modern than that.
What do you think of traditional productions or, on the other hand, experimental decisions?
I’m a very tolerant person and for me as a performer or as a member of the audience it’s important that the production doesn’t leave me dissatisfied or disappointed.
Which musicians in general and which singers in particular have had the greatest influence on you?
I got a great deal from working and talking with Mstislav Rostropovich and Galina Vishnevskaya. It is, arguably, pointless to speak of the magnitude of these two stars, everyone knows them. I was invited by Mstislav Rostropovich to perform the role of Marfa at the Bolshoi Theatre, following which he often asked me to take part in other projects. Often he would perform at one and the same concert as both conductor and cellist. What a sound that great musician had! Vishnevskaya was always present at all of my rehearsals with the maestro and made very subtle and interesting comments that I remember now if I go back to those works. I have to mention one other magnificent singer – Irina Konstantinovna Arkhipova. Every prize-winner at the Glinka Competition has been a “godchild” to her. She gave us all her blessing for a long and productive career and has witnessed all of our successes. For me she remains the most perfect performer of the mezzo-soprano opera and chamber repertoires.
Has your attitude to the music you perform changed over the years? Or to music in general?
On the whole no, but with the passing years possibly the correlation of sensitivity and consciousness have swapped places.
With regard to male characters, do you prefer heroic types or lyrical characters?
Oh, I like all male characters, even if they are villains.
What events in your life – other than musical ones – have been the most significant?
The birth of my daughter, of course – that was the single most important event in my life.
Would you say you could do anything a stage director or conductor asked of you, even if it were very unusual?
In general, I try to do anything conductors and stage directors ask of me if I am able to do so and my principles allow it. Conductors and stage directors carry a great deal of responsibility for the final result that the audience sees while the performer is basically a very dependent creator; it’s great luck when we meet truly outstanding people and not artistic figures who build their careers on scabrous techniques and subsequent scandals.
Which tour or which performance has been the most memorable for you?
I couldn’t pick just a single one. There have been many performances, all of which mean a great deal to me.
Has your audience changed over the past twenty years?
Audiences will change if society changes. In the west you can see a great many wealthy people at premieres. They include true music lovers and patrons of the arts as well as those for whom it is important “to be seen” at an event and show themselves off in their finery. The same sort of thing has begun to happen in Russia in recent times too.
What would you say your greatest success has been?
My many years of successful performances in the Italian repertoire in Italy at the famous theatres of that great nation, a country I absolutely adore.
Are any of the heroines you perform remotely like you?
Let me think... I’m not a pharaoh’s daughter and I’m not a dissenter – and I’ve never thrown my son into a fire, but there are similarities – they as well as I are passionate women.
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