If you ask me about vocal technique, I don't know anything. I could never be a teacher. I just know what my teacher told me: 'Always sing with a full voice. When they tell you, less sound, more piano - no.'
I have to be more modest now that I'm a mama, but I loved those days when I could really wear what I wanted to. I do love crazy shoes and clothes. But I mean, come on, I'm 38, so even if I like a dress of Betsey Johnson, I have to say, 'Stop it. Go for Chanel!'
In Russia, I pretend to be a lot of princesses and wait for prince. That was my dream.
I prefer it when the conductor follows me. It is more difficult to work with a conductor who does not listen - even if I understand that sometimes it makes sense when one person is ruling everything. But for bel canto, I have to have a conductor who listens and supports me.
When I am on stage, I give everything. Maybe because of that, I won't last long, but I don't care.
As a soprano who sings 'Lucia di Lammermoor,' I have the high notes and the trills. No problems there. But going into the low registers is lots of work.
Opera is an exclusive art form, so it cannot be that popular. I just do what I love to do.
When I just started my career, of course, I always try to look very good, and I changes the dress all the time on the performance. And people came to me and said, 'Oh, beautiful dress. Your dress is so beautiful, and you look so beautiful.' That's it. And I was so upset nobody saying anything about my singing.
For me, St. Petersburg is the city that I can never escape because it has this special energy, even a dark energy. It keeps pulling me back.
When I started, my teachers told me that I had to sing 'Mozart, Mozart, Mozart.' I said, 'No, I want to sing all the other stuff.' If you do not push yourself, you will stay the same. Maybe some singers are happy with that, but I have to move, I have to do something new always.
Maybe because I'm a nice and sweet person in life, I like the darker roles. The really dark one is Lady Macbeth.
After the baby, I got bigger, and I like it. I like me better now than when I was young and skinny. I don't understand this extreme fashion for being anorexic-skinny. We forgot about women with curves - real women. We're not embracing that anymore.
Applause, it's very nice, of course. But when you're giving, and creating, and then there is the silence of everyone sitting there, listening, waiting, that is great.
When I am not on the stage, it is always very difficult for the public to find me! I am a private person who does not always want to be in the spotlight!
You will not see me dressed in plain, modest outfits.
When you're singing before 15,000 people at a summer concert outside, you need to look beautiful, because that's what people want.
I prefer department stores. In boutiques, they come up and ask you if you need help. I can't get lost in the experience.
There are two types of conductors. One is the good conductor who can do passionate music but also listen to the singers and do the orchestra. And then there are great conductors, who have their own opinion on the music, who are ruling everything - and not listening much to the singers, but the orchestra play amazingly.
I am still working on developing my voice. I am, I know, better as a coloratura singer than I was. It's a matter of strong breath control and yet making it sound as though it is the easiest thing in the world.
I have no desire to become a crossover artiste, singing with microphones. I believe in opera; that it is something that young people would love if they had a chance to hear it.
