The interview with Anna Netrebko
She can be very calculated lowering her voice and whispering, as if she would immediately entrust a secret to you. Then she laughs aloud, "hahaha," and it sounds like a perfect opera laugh. In the course of the interview in the "Hotel Sacher", however, Anna Netrebko eventually forgets to optimize her charm. Then she laughs relaxed, gesticulating, sighing, clenching her fist, and you have the feeling she is really there and with her thoughts not elsewhere.
Gradually she collapses on the sofa and only thinks from time to time to straighten up for the photo. Her partner, the Uruguayan bass-baritone Erwin Schrott, comes over after a rehearsal, wearing a thick wool scarf and a gray pullover, greets her cheerfully, then disappears again. He should not smoke so much, Anna Netrebko calls after him - Errrwin says, with a heavily rolled R - but he has not heard that before. The photos that are shot during the interview, she wants to see the same. Now she is suddenly very strict: this not, that not, there is too much double chin, there she looks too serious. She decides how the world may see Anna Netrebko.
Anna Netrebko was born in 1971 in Krasnodar, southern Russia, her father was a geologist, her mother was an engineer. The soprano earned her singing lessons with a job as a cleaning woman in the St. Petersburg Opera House, where she gave her opera debut in 1994 in Mozart's "Figaro". Her international breakthrough came in 2002 in Salzburg as Donna Anna in Mozart's "Don Giovanni". Since then, the singer is celebrated on all stages of the world, most recently in 2010 in Charles Gounod's "Romeo and Juliet" at the Salzburg Festival. Anna Netrebko lives in Vienna, New York and St. Petersburg, since 2006 she also has the Austrian citizenship. With her partner, the bass-baritone Erwin Schrott from Uruguay, she has a two-year-old son.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: Viewers love to do something freaky at a performance, like throw your shoes into the orchestra and dance barefoot ...
Anna Netrebko: ... oh, the shoes. I did that once, in 2007, at a gala concert, that's right. But the people who really like music should not have such expectations of me. I am a singer and not an action heroine.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: Her new album is Baroque music by Pergolesi, including his Stabat Mater. This is not necessarily the music you associate with. They even sang Pergolesi's music at the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden last year. Did you not fear that there was too little glamor for the audience?
Anna Netrebko: No. I was very happy to sing the Stabat Mater, it was always one of my favorite pieces. But first I had to find my voice for this kind of music. In the end, the performance was a great success.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: Do you even know something like stage fright?
Anna Netrebko: Usually I'm not afraid to be on stage. But it does happen that I do not feel well on the day of a performance. I wake up in the morning, the breath is restless. Everything that was easy for me when singing a few days ago is suddenly hard work.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: Does this happen even on days when there is no performance in the evening?
Anna Netrebko: Not really. It is more the unrest before a big event: a new role, a new production or a big concert.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: What helps against the nervousness?
Anna Netrebko: You mean if I drink vodka or eat chocolate? I do not take anything and hope that the unrest goes by itself.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: They are considered very disciplined, even sing when you are sick. Only in 2007 you had to fit because of vocal cord problems at the Salzburg Festival.
Anna Netrebko: Yes, it really was not possible. Usually I always think that I am expected to sing. I was three times so ill last year that I could barely speak. But I did not want to cancel, it was the new production of Charles Gounod's love drama "Romeo and Juliet" in Salzburg. I already saw the newspaper articles in front of me: "Soon their career is over ..." But not! So I started to sing and did not know if I would make it to the end. Amazingly, the audience did not even notice that I was so battered. Nevertheless: I should have canceled! In the future I want to be more reasonable.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: Do you have any idea where your great sense of duty comes from?
Anna Netrebko: It's true, I really have something soldier in me. You know, I grew up in Russia in the seventies.It was still the atmosphere of the Cold War, we grew up aware that we had to be ready for a possible war against the West, so the propaganda worked. I have read a lot of these books in which the heroes are fearless and strong and want to die for their homeland. At that time I devoured these books, I loved the heroes and wanted to be strong myself. In summer I was always in a pioneer camp. I marched in groups with many other children, we sang songs and had fun with them. Of course we did not always take it all seriously. But we were once Soviet children and grew up with discipline.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: Do you sometimes dream of being really lazy?
Anna Netrebko: Dreaming? I can be lazy, very even!
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: I do not believe you.
Anna Netrebko: Let's put it this way: When it comes down to it, I'm very disciplined. And if there's a chance to be lazy, I'll use it.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: An example?
Anna Netrebko: I used to fly with my colleague Elina Garanca, the Latvian mezzo-soprano, it was a five-hour flight. She is incredibly talented, but also workaholic. All the while, Elina studied a score. I'll look in for maybe ten minutes, then it'll be enough, and I'll relax.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: Have you ever experienced that the joy of singing has gone by the stress?
Anna Netrebko: A few years ago, in 2004, I was physically exhausted. It was the feeling of too much, like eating tons of sweets and feeling bad afterwards. I stayed for some time, then it went again. The many trips I have to make are exhausting. I am always having problems because of iron deficiency and I have to have it checked regularly.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: Your colleague Rolando Villazón, with whom you have sung a lot together, had a burnout in 2007, a vocal cord operation in 2009 and had to suspend months again and again. Such stories are not exactly uplifting.
Anna Netrebko: That's right. But luckily he has returned. He has incredible energy and radiates that singing is fun. This is very contagious and helped me find the joy back then.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: You and Villazón were hymned as the dream couple of the opera stage. You once said that you hate the hype around you, the many reports in the media. Do not you enjoy the hype too?
Anna Netrebko: It's often too much for me and that's why I do not read the articles in the papers. Here in Vienna it annoys me that before a performance my picture is everywhere placated, as if my colleagues, who also sing along, do not exist. It does not help me, it does not help anyone. But it's just show business. The ticket prices of the concerts I sing with are often absurdly high. I can understand that the audience is complaining about it.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: Are you putting high ticket prices under pressure?
Anna Netrebko: Yes. I can only do my best to sing songs in a wide musical range, in different languages, so that as many listeners as possible are addressed.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: Even if you do not like the hype around you, you've worked on it yourself. They have repeatedly advertised, for example for Escada, Dior, Chopard, Schwarzkopf and BMW
Anna Netrebko: That's different. I enjoyed it a lot and I like the products.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: And you will not get paid for it either.
Anna Netrebko: Yes, but it keeps within limits.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: Nevertheless, advertising carries the hype - whether you like it or not.
Anna Netrebko: I'm a public figure. I'm also involved in charitable causes. I can use my name to do really relevant things, for example as a patron for children's aid projects. I really like it.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: You have been a mother yourself for over two years. When your son Tiago was born, you were 37. Was it the right moment for you?
Anna Netrebko: I am glad that I did not become a mother earlier. I think I was only 37 when I was ready. Besides, of course, you need the right man for that, and with Erwin, I knew it was him.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: How was your baby break when you had no rehearsals, no performances? Any withdrawal symptoms?
Anna Netrebko: No! I was so happy not to sing. I did not even want to know if my voice is still there. At home I felt comfortable and did not want to go back to the stage at all.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: In the newspapers you do not read, it says your voice has been fuller since you were a mother. Do you sing a lot to your son at home?
Anna Netrebko: I sing on rehearsals, not at home at all. Silenzio!
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: But surely you sing lullabies.
Anna Netrebko: No, not one.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: If you were singing at home, would that mean taking work home?
Anna Netrebko: Something like that. Whenever I listen to music for seven or eight hours at a rehearsal, I am glad that people do not sing at home. I really only sing, if I can not avoid, to rehearse a piece. Twenty minutes are absolute maximum. That's bad, I know. (laughs) Erwin likes to sing at home, but relaxing music, Bossa Nova, for example.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: Your son is now two and a half years old. Does he even know that his mother is an opera singer if you do not sing a single aria at home?
Anna Netrebko: Sure. Last year he was rehearsing Jules Massenet's "Manon" in London, rehearsing at the Royal Opera House, with orchestra, choir, singers. I sang a great aria of the Manon, lalalalala, took in between Tiago on the arm. At first he was very interested, but then suddenly he put his finger in my mouth. By mistake I bit into it, and Tiago screamed as if on a spit, uuääääääää. The conductor, Antonio Pappano, had not noticed that I held Tiago in my arms, and then was completely disturbed. I left the rehearsal with my son ...
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: ... without dying the stage death as it foresees the end of "Manon". Are you totally cool when you have to die?
Anna Netrebko: Honestly: no. A colleague, the American soprano Patricia Racette, says she would love to die on stage. I'm more worried. I feel better in a comedy with a happy ending.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: If you're touring the world for your performances, take Tiago with you. Do you sometimes feel like a single mother?
Anna Netrebko: Yes, yes, but luckily I always get help. I have a nanny in New York, one in Vienna, and my sister and a friend are also helping. For example, when I have to travel to Japan for performances, my nanny or sister comes along.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: What speaks against your son staying with his father in such cases?
Anna Netrebko: Erwin is also constantly on the road, has rehearsals and performances all over the world. We already have a pretty crazy life, and I am suffering a lot from the many separations. Sometimes we sing together in one production, but that's rare. On the other hand, we do not want to appear too often as the singing couple.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: Do you wish that the son of the singing couple will later become an opera singer?
Anna Netrebko: To be honest: I do not hope so. The job just means a lot of stress.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: And planning. Probably you already know where you will be in five years on exactly the date of today. What is that feeling when the whole life is clocked through?
Anna Netrebko: Well, at least I will not be so surprised. When I know that in five years time I have to sing a very demanding role in a new production, I can calmly adapt to it. But of course you're right: it's strange to be so planned. Do I know what will happen to me in five years? Will I even be able to stand on stage ...
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: Maybe you will be pregnant again.
Anna Netrebko: Possible. (laughs) We have no concrete plans.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: Is there anything you are afraid of?
Anna Netrebko: Before I had my little family, I was more or less fearless. Now there is this beautiful world that we built in threes and that is so important to me. Since then I am afraid of losing this treasure, this luck again.
