I walk around the house in my pajamas all day if I want to.
You have to be in tune with your body and know when your body is saying, 'That's enough, you're done for the day.' If you over-fatigue and are totally stressed, you get sick. And if I get sick, I can't work.
When I was signing up for the University of Southern California's music program, I flipped a coin to decide my major. If it came up heads, it would be flute - tails would be voice.
The vocal cords are a muscle, and like any other muscle in the body, they can be strained. So you have to warm up.
I always think of my father when I sing arias about loss and love and longing. It gave me that definite deep sorrow that one can only get from life experience, you know?
I guess my first professional experience was when my church choir director told my mother that I had a gift with my voice and said that I should think about auditioning, at 11 years old, for the chorus of our regional opera company.
Even when I'm not onstage singing, there's always music going on in my head. It's a curse and a blessing in a way - it's sitting in bed at night, trying to go to sleep, while the music keeps playing in your head - especially when you're trying to learn something new and you're trying to memorize it and get everything.
If I can transport audiences for the three or four hours they're at the opera, to make them forget all of their worries, the bills they have to pay and all that, then I've done my job. That, for me, is very gratifying.
I love the tragic side. I don't do 'happy' onstage. I like the dark, the disturbed.
I don't like confrontation; I just like to sing.
Artists shouldn't deal with business stuff; that's not what we're trained in, and most of us aren't good at it.
We live in a very disposable society, and people want everything right away, but unfortunately, vocal technique doesn't come overnight.
After I turn 50, I would like to sing Verdi's 'Attila.'
Singing bel canto is like walking on a tightrope - especially with a larger voice like mine.
I'm going to the gym and really taking care of myself and trying to stay fit, eating properly.
Temperament can really take a toll on the voice. If you get tight in your body with the acting, then you can get tight in your voice. And then you can get tired, and you can damage yourself vocally.
When you do a 'messa di voce,' that means you start soft, you crescendo into loud - and then you go back to soft again. Some people call it circus tricks, but in bel canto, it's really written into the music.
I absolutely love Canada, and I wouldn't live anywhere else. It's half American and half European, and I really enjoy that. And the people are just fantastic - nicer than any people in the world.
I'm American by birth, but I consider myself Canadian.
Temperament and tightness often go together. But if you're tight, you can't sing. So I have to have that tension in my body but not in my voice.
