SFist Interviews Soprano Sondra Radvanovsky

We asked her about Il Trovatore, and her role, Leonora, noting she just had done it at the Met and why she likes it: It's a role I've done over a 100 times. You name it, I've done it: the Bastille, London, Florence, San Diego. There are two reasons: vocally it fits me, I find Verdi, especially for this role, he writes very demanding music. He writes for the voice to sing loud and soft and high and low, and the dynamics and diminuendi, and I enjoy doing all of that. It's a technical trick, it's a technical act, that you really have to work hard at it.

And I love the music, of course, I love the music. There is a character of Leonora. Oftentimes she is played as a complete drip, and she is not! Sondra laughs She's a young vibrant woman in love for the first time. And if she's played young, and not as an old stoic lady, the audience can relate to it, women and men. There is a tradition of Leonora as a stand and sing role. This production emphasizes the youthfulness, the vulnerability, the young aspects about Leonora. And every time I do it, I try to find something new. This production emphasizes the strength of every character, not just Leonora.

Actually, regarding the production, what happens at the end of Act II, it looks like Manrico slashes the Count's throat, but he's right back for Act III, what gives? He only slashes his face. At the Met, actually, people chuckled, they laughed at that. There are a few aspects in this production that are a bit off.

And we should not care, it's not like Il Trovatore is realistic in the first place anyway. How long does it take to learn a role like this? I can't even remember, it was so long ago. I'm 40 now, and I learned Trovatore when I was, what, twenty-six. It was quite a while ago. Normally a role, for instance, now I'm learning Tosca. Tosca is my next new role that I'm doing, in March and April. There are different levels in a role. There is knowing it musically, and there is really knowing it on your feet, being able to sing in rehearsal. There is knowing the character. I really take my time to digest it all. I would say probably six month to really own the role, instead of just being able to sing through it. Anybody can just pick up the music and in two or three weeks, sing through. There is levels, different layers of learning the score.

We were curious about the physical preparation for such a role, the training regimen. We work all the time, we are like athletes. It's like a ballet dancer doing the same stretches that he does every day before a show. An opera singer does the same: you have to warm up the muscles in our throat, warm up the upper body, the diaphragm, everything and get the body awake and ready to sing. I do a set of vocalises, it usually takes half an hour, I try to do it every day, except the day after a show, where I'm done. Very gently, you see, you not only warm up the voice, but see where the voice is. Is my tongue tight today, is my breath tight? And if is tight? You get to learn after a lot of practice, ok this is not working right, how do I fix it. Also, if it does not work right, I call my voice teacher, I call my voice coach.Because bad habits can easily creep in through a technique. Every singer should have a set of ears that go: you're doing something wrong with your technique. And they can diagnose what's wrong on the phone? I'm lucky that my coach come fly. He was here for opening night. He'll be in Chicago for Ernani, he lives in New York. So I have constant reiteration through my technique.

About physical exercise? Oh yeah, I'm falling on my back, I'm climbing walls. That big gate, I was on, I climbed up to the top of it. So I work out 5/6 days a week, I do cardio, 30 to 45 minutes of cardio. I lift weight lightly, but not the day of the show, because it can get your muscles tight instead of loose, which is how you want them when you sing. No singer-specific training? No, just to keep your body in shape. This is very physical, you need your breath support, your back extension to sing. Don't you need strong abs to project the voice? Actually, if you get your abs too tight, it's not a good thing for singing. So you work out mostly to keep the body in shape. Also, this business is more and more about looks as well.

We interrupted: but you don't have to be thin to succeed, look at your Azucena, Stephanie Blythe! That's a God given talent, that is a voice completely touched by God, just an amazing talent. But the normal people, the average people... No one is average on that stage! we had to point out. We're lucky we have a great cast, that's true, she conceded. We asked if singers are worried about one day losing their voice, as happened to Rolando Villazon, who had just canceled his LA Opera engagement.

It's always on the back of the mind, that's why we're all neurotic. Me not so much, she jokes. Our voice, it's our life, it's everything. It's what we do, it's how we make money, but it's also our body, our personality is attached to our voice, attached to what we do as a profession. It's very messed up in a way. And that's why so many people have neurosis: oh, I have to eat the same thing every day when I sing, or I have to walk around in a circle ten times, you know, people have their rituals.

Rolando is a great guy, a lovely man, I know him personally, and I think he'll be absolutely fine, absolutely.

She had just sung at Golden Gate park the week-end before. I sing outdoors all the time. Actually my very first Trovatore was with the Met Opera in the park. And in the park, SF Opera General Director David Gockley introduced her as "American soprano" Sondra Radvanovsky. It seemed to us that she was not the only American singer, but the only one qualified as such. Maybe the Americans want to own me (laughs). But the funny thing is I live in Canada and I'm married to a Canadian-and-British husband, so yes I am American by birth, but I don't feel American really, it's very international. I think of myself more as a Canadian in a way. We're never home, you know.

We asked about the roles she'd like to sing: Turandot, Norma. I am singing Norma. I'm very fortunate that I'm coming to the point in my career, and my life, I'm getting to sing what I always wanted to sing. Like Manon Lescaut, I always wanted to sing, Tosca, Suor Angelica. The production we did was beautiful.

She sung Suor Angelica in the LA Opera production of Il Trittico, where Woody Allen directed another act, Gianni Schicchi. Wasn't she bummed Woody did not direct her? I think that was ok. William Friedkin [ed: the director for the other two acts, and also the Exorcist!] is a very close friend of mine. He's coming to the show on Tuesday. Brilliant man. Life changing really for me.

I've seen just bits and pieces of [Gianni Schicchi. Woody Allen] made it as a film noir, everything was black and white. I have no anecdotes, since he closed the rehearsals. I think he was very nervous since it was his first opera experience, doing a new production. I did not hear any stories since we were so separated from this.

What's your day like during a run like this? I can't say that every day is the same. Today, I for instance, today, I will have interviews, I will work on the computer, do fan mail that you have to write, mostly. And then I have CD signings. Not today, but Oct. 4th for the new CD that is coming out [ed. a collection of Verdi arias with Dmitri Hvorostovsky, who also sings in Il Trovatore], after the show. It's just me, Dmitri is not coming. Otherwise, working on new music, going to the gym.

On Oct. 4th, Dmitri should not be there, it's Quinn Kelsey who is singing the Count DiLuna. He looks physically very, very strong, aren't you concerned he might hurt you when he grabs you? I know! He could just snap my neck, couldn't he? Wait, you have to come see him. He's the real deal. But I'm a pretty strong girl, I can strike back you know. I might just give him a little nudge in the stomach or something.

I broke my arm once, I did Freia, and the guy playing Fasold or Fafner, I don't remember, he grabbed me so hard he broke my arm. It was just slightly fractured, it was just wrapped up. It's unbelievable the things that happen on the stage. Quinn knows I would beat him up if he did.

Do you have role models, older sopranos, or are the voices just too different nowadays? Number one, Maria Callas for me. We sang a lot of very similar repertoire, there is stuff that crosses over. I admire her so much, because she was never afraid to make an ugly noise, when it was needed in an opera, because it would go with the text, the emotion, the drama. You listen to the sound, and also it's a very unique sound. My voice is not the most average sounding voice. It's very distinct, people hear it and say: oh yeah, that Sondra. Good, or bad, you know. Also, Renata Scoto has really helped me with my career a lot. Being in the young artist program at the Met, I worked with her a lot, Giving guidance about acting, about singing, about what roles to do. Also Diana Soviero: big role model. I met her when I was 21 yo. she was always there for me. I study voice with her now as well.

What's your schedule like, you had this interview where you said you had no contract at the Met, and how about SFO? That has changed. I'm doing a lot of things. Nothing with San Francisco opera, though. My schedule is pretty full until 2014-15. So it would be for the 2014-15 season. I have a contract for 2018! But I'm sure we'll find something. Los Angeles is talking to have me come back for some Puccini. At the Met I have Aida, Tosca.

We chatted also about her latest CD of Verdi arias, which is for sale exclusively at the SF Opera shop, and she will sign after the Oct. 4th performance. It will be released next March. She sings duets with Dmitri Hvorostovsky. Dmitri makes over a couple million dollars a year, can we talk about money? Well, everybody knows that. He does a lot of singing in Russia, a lot of concert in Russia. I was fortunate enough that that CD was recording during a concert in Russia. The audiences there, it's completely different audience than any of the audience in Northern America, so knowledgeable. If you want to make a lot of money, go to Russia. It's a great place to be too. How the Russians suffered, and the one thing that they hold on to is their culture, their arts and music and ballet. They are so well trained in it. They know good singing, they know bad singing, and they really appreciate good singing. Dmitri is literally a god there. He walks on water there, as he should.

It was the first time he and I sung together. I had known Dmitri, and he came to a show of Trovatore I did years ago years ago at the Met, maybe six or seven years ago, and came up to me and said during the middle of the performance at intermission, and he said, "oh my God, you have a beautiful voice, I'm such an admirer," and I'm standing there and I'm looking at Dmitri Hvorostovsky, and oh. My. God. what am I going to say to him, and I was speechless, and I said thank you and I turned around and walked away. And he thought I did not like him. So he had wanted to sing with him, but he thought she did not like him, I'm not going to sing with her. And then this concert came up and Angela Gheorgiu was supposed to do the concert and she canceled at the last minute, and Dmitri said I would love Sondra to come and do it. And then he tells me that whole story, how he thought I did not like him, and I said: "no! completely the opposite! I was completely in love with you, and you're standing there looking at me." What do you say to your idol, to this man, you love his voice, you think he's extremely handsome, this magnetic personality. So we had a good chuckle out of it. And we made a fantastic concert, it was really magical.

You can hear Sondra five more time in Il Trovatore, from tonight until Tuesday, October 6th.