Interview on TVR Cultural - part I - 08.10.2009

This was the first part of the interview broadcasted on October 8th on TVR Cultural. There are two more next weeks. Only the talking part lasted for about 20 minutes. The rest were collages from operas and concerts. I waited for the interview to be available on youtube but it seems that nobody recorded it. I couldn’t find anything so far.
.

The interview was taken in June 2009, when she was in Bucharest to sing at the National Theatre. 4 minutes of the interview were broadcasted then at the News on TVR Cultural and the fragment is below.

.
So, without being able to see the interview again, I’ll follow the question and answer sequence but there are not the exact words that they used (except the 4 minutes from the video). Just to have an idea. There are parts missing but there's nothing you've never heard before. If there was, I would have remembered for sure.
.
I'm curious about the next two parts. Maybe the interviewer will ask about the future plans. What else besides Carmen, Adriana Lecuvreur and Traviata (many, many times) scheduled for next year?
.
The nicest thing of this interview is the tone and the familiarity. Angela said she has known the interviewer since he was a child and this explains everything. The warm smile, the details she gave the pleasure of answering. In no particular order, these are the answers she offered.
.
*Somebody close to me once told me that back then when you were taking part in the “Do you like Opera” concerts you were not nervous at all. Are you a very good actress or you get nervous but you hide it? I hide the emotions very well. This is a confession. Not only that I was nervous but I had to find a place away from everybody else in order to calm down. Because I was extremely nervous. But the magic of the stage, of the microphone, the energy coming from the public, helped me getting rid of the emotions. I’m always very nervous.
.
*Is it the same nowadays? Every year the emotion gets different shapes. Most of the times there are physical reactions. The emotions are bigger and bigger because I feel that the people in front of me expect more and more, I have a bigger responsibility. The performances are different each time. People’s expectation is like a weight on my shoulders. If I didn’t care, maybe it would be easier. But I care a lot so it’s difficult. It might also be a gift. These huge emotions I have manage to send a message. Besides the voice that we, the opera singers, are gifted with there’s the ability of giving emotions.
.
*Today when you step on stage and have that black hole in front of you. It’s filled with electricity and it’s very easy to get lost. I think I proved this in my almost 20 years of career. The situation is different. I might be angry, hungry or haven’t slept well, but when I get on stage I forget about everything. During an important scene or aria, if something happens and I stop there’s a shock for me. The hole you talked about actually helps me, it gives me energy. I’m trying to explain but it’s not possible.
.
*Sure, there are details related to each profession. Yes, each performance is a different experience, I’m different. In a series of performances, such as Traviata or L’Elixir, there are things that improve, others don’t. We like to think that we’re better and better but it’s not like this all the time because every time you go on stage you, as an artist, are different.
.
*What do you think of before the performance? It’s difficult to say. I try to concentrate, to think of the role. Once I’m on stage nothing else matters. I get so involved in what I’m doing that if you interrupt me at some point, you might have the surprise that I can’t remember my own name.
.
*And after the performance? I thank God that everything went well.
.
*What about the black hole that the venue is, seen from the stage. Does it bother you? No, not at all. It helps me. And it’s not that black. I still can see the faces in the first rows and even recognize people. At backstage it often happens to tell some people. You were there, you on the other side, and so on. Seeing people’s faces sometimes help me.
.
*You are many times named “diva”. Oh, not again. Lately this word is attributed to all kind of people, from fashion to art. I do my job as I think it’s best and people decide what to say.
.
*Are the audiences different in the world? I don’t make a difference between British, American, German audiences. I feel privileged that they all love me. There wasn’t any bad moment in my career. The people in Asia are more exuberant and noisy.
.
*…..In opera there are not men and women. We are all musicians. The moment we meet we call each other on our first names. For example when I first met George Solti he asked me to call him George and we became great friends. After this question there was a small video of George Solti, part of an interview, where he’s saying that he advised Angela to chose the roles well, not to sing to much, to take everything step by step.