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The most temperamental Russian star on the world stage. A girl from the provinces who has conquered all conceivable heights in the profession. A powerful voice, well-deserved fame, a life scheduled for years to come – and at the same time, spontaneity, charm and the ability to be happy under any circumstances. Meeting with the singer, in whose life there is not only opera.
The decision arose spontaneously and, as often happens, at the last moment: Netrebko will be on the cover of the anniversary issue! And now I have an appointment in Vienna, a couple of evenings to prepare for the interview, and the next morning I get off the plane at Schwechat airport and the first thing I see is an advertisement for Austrian Airlines, from which Anna looks at me. A good sign, I think with relief. So everything will work out.
We were supposed to meet in a cafe in the very center of Vienna. I barely have time to order coffee when Anna appears. Big dark glasses serve as an excellent disguise for her, on the street I would pass by without recognizing the world-famous diva. I know that Netrebko has had a bad cold for almost a month and therefore seems either tired or immersed in her thoughts. Not the best mood for an interview, I think uneasily. But then (literally out of nowhere) a tall man with two suitcases appeared near our table. Anna gasped, “Where are you from?” “Yesterday I sang a performance, and today at seven in the morning I got on a plane … and here I am!” “Crazy!” – Anna beamed, and my heart was relieved.
The guest stayed for breakfast in a cafe, and we went up to the singer’s apartment in an old house next door. The bright living room, where we sat on a malachite-green corner sofa, was furnished with true Viennese charm. This is where the conversation began.
Psychologies: You have chosen to live in Vienna. Do you feel good here?
Anna Netrebko: Vienna in general is a fertile city for singers. Here musicians and artists are privileged people. The Austrians, the Viennese are very fond of music, and, of course, I feel this warm attitude very much on myself.
Can you just take a walk down the street, sit in a cafe? They probably recognize you and ask for autographs.
A. N .: Of course, I walk around the city, but I live here … I’m not Rihanna or Miley Cyrus. After all, opera stars are not pop stars, not Hollywood actors who have no life at all because of fans – unfortunate people! It’s great that they know and love me, it’s very nice, the attention doesn’t bother me.
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You have had an incredible career takeoff, your life is like a fairytale Cinderella story. Did you dream about this in your childhood, youth?
A. N .: Of course, this is much more than I dared to dream. At the age of 17, singing on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater was my biggest dream. In general, since childhood, the most important thing for me was to perform on stage. The scene is like a drug, once you try it, it’s hard to leave. If I had been assigned, as it was before, to some city to serve in the theater, I would have gone.
What do you feel on the stage during the performance?
A. N .: I feel my power. The stage is a magical place, there is a special energy, all problems pass there, you live a completely different life there. That’s why I like performances more than just concerts. I am a theatrical child. In this regard, I am like a filter: I clearly know what I need and what I do not need. And I always knew that my intuition worked, even when I was little.
And she doesn’t let you down?
A. N .: Not! I clearly know what I appreciate in a person, and I know what I don’t like. I don’t like dirty people. But I have no enemies, at least open ones. I appreciate the efficiency, activity of the mind, sense of humor. In general, I have a very positive attitude towards life and people.
“I CAN’T SACRIFICE MY PERSONAL LIFE FOR THE SAKE OF THE PROFESSION, NOR the other way around. ELSE I CAN’T BE HAPPY”
Perhaps it comes from childhood?
A. N .: Oh yeah. As a child, I received a lot of love. We had a noisy family, there were always gatherings on weekends, because we had a big house and a garden, there was where to receive guests. In general, I think that the Soviet upbringing was somewhat better. We were not praised, but we were not suppressed either. Now it is believed, especially in the West, that you can’t say bad things to a child at all. Everyone is afraid: “Oh, he will have complexes!” I’m not sure this is correct. When a child grows up, he realizes that he is far from the best, and then he starts having problems. We were the opposite. We were told: “If you want to achieve something, you have to work! In the meantime, this is not the case with you, and it suffers, and your legs are clubfoot, and your back is stooped. And there were no resentments and complexes!
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Could you open up to your parents? Be honest about your feelings?
A. N .: Not! I have never had such a connection with my mother. It’s different with my sister, she told her mother everything, her mother also shared her stories with her. And I always had girlfriends for such intimate conversations. We still communicate all the time, I pull them out to one country, then to another. I love them very much. And dad, perhaps, in my childhood did not play a particularly important role. He did his job. But I always had support: mom, dad, family. But when I got older, my dad and I began to communicate more. Especially, of course, my mother’s illness, death brought us closer. Dad is 80 years old, he still works. I ask him: “Come, please!” – and he: “I can’t yet! I’m busy!” We, unfortunately, are not able to keep around us all those we love. They can come, go, die, go to another city, you can’t control it. But it seems to me that we can and should occupy ourselves, be needed ourselves. Otherwise, you have to wait all the time for others to give you something, and the person loses himself, ceases to be self-sufficient.
You just seem like such a self-sufficient, strong person. Do you feel this way on the inside?
A. N .: I am strong when I need to be strong. This is true. Although sometimes I feel very weak. But I understand that my weakness does not make anyone feel better. That’s why I try to be strong. Especially now that I have a son, I am responsible for many people and I have to keep myself in shape.
Her partners
Long-term creative union of Anna Netrebko with the Mexican tenor Rolando Villazon music lovers all over the world called it nothing more than a “dream duet” and still regret that it broke up. But there was another outstanding duet: the great Placido Domingo, who once helped Anna with her debut in the theater of San Francisco, finally met her on stage as a partner in the opera Il trovatore, which he conducted Daniel Barenboim. The maestro is going to record a disc with four Strauss songs with Anna. “Anna is incomparable,” exclaims Barenboim. “She is beautiful not only as a singer, but also as an actress, because she knows how to combine theater and music, she is endowed with this gift by nature.”
Is it hard for you to be strong?
A.N .: You can’t even imagine what kind of violence this is against yourself … You have to make an effort on yourself constantly. In general, I believe that everything in life should be in time. And there is not enough time. So I spin like a squirrel in a wheel.
Do you know wrestling, rivalry?
A. N .: No. I’m not a competitive person, as we say. I hate this. If I know that I have to compete with someone, everything immediately relaxes in me. I never sang well in auditions. Thank God, I parted with the repertory theater in time, where each new premiere is already a line for the role. That feeling – oh, they didn’t take me for the role, but they took it! I don’t have this headache in my life. And so I easily come to the performances of others and rejoice in their success.
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Your schedule of performances is planned for years ahead. Do you consciously build your life in opera?
A. N .: Well, everything is relative. We are currently planning the 2018/19 season. But I don’t know if I can then sing what I signed the contract for. Right now, I haven’t worked for two months: I’ve been preparing for a long time, I doubted, and nevertheless I decided that I won’t sing Margarita in Faust, this part doesn’t suit my voice now. In our profession, it is difficult to predict what will happen in four years. And I like everything to be laid out on the shelves. I’m a Virgo, I must have perfect order! Planning, being the head of the family is interesting to me. I have to calculate exactly when and where I am moving, who is traveling with me, how the child’s life is organized, all this must be thought out. I don’t like it when plans fall apart, I get angry, it unsettles me. In general, I am an active person, a person of action. And if I stop singing, I will have to do something else, I will have to do something! Although I don’t really know how (laughs). But I’ll find something for sure! It seems to me that if a person has a job, he is happy.
long growing up
Anna Netrebko was born on September 18, 1971 in Krasnodar in the family of engineers Yuri and Larisa Netrebko. Sister Natalya is three years older. Anna sang in the ensemble “Kuban Pioneer”. In 1991 she entered the St. Petersburg Conservatory. After winning the Glinka Vocal Competition in 1993, he made his debut on the stage of the Mariinsky Theatre. Leaves the conservatory and becomes a theater soloist. World take-off began in 2002, when Anna triumphantly performed in Don Giovanni at the Salzburg Festival. In 2005 she received the State Prize of Russia. In 2007, she was named one of the most influential people of the year by Time magazine. In 2008, she became a People’s Artist of Russia. In the same year, Anna and the Uruguayan singer Erwin Schrott had a son, Thiago. In 2013, the couple broke up. In February 2014, Netrebko performed at the opening ceremony of the Sochi Olympics. Until the end of the year, she will sing in three Italian operas: Leonora in Il trovatore in Salzburg, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth (Metropolitan Opera) and Manon Lescaut at the Bavarian Opera.
Remember when you felt like an adult?
A. N. (thinks): An adult is the one who takes responsibility. It came to me late. At the age of 30, probably, when I started serious contracts. And of course, when the son appeared, everything was different here. People who know me will probably say that I have changed a lot in the last few years. I got older. Even the look has changed…
That is, in fact, your life is not only an opera?
A. N .: Certainly! I realized this quite early. Well, yes, the first years of puppy euphoria – “Oh-oh-oh! Singing! Music! Theatre!” It passed quickly. Now, if I don’t sing, I don’t remember about the opera. I don’t have a dependence on the profession, like some singers, musicians: “Listening to music, doing it is a must!” Finished singing – closed the door, left – that’s it! I am engaged in other things, I organize a house, life, it’s all on me … I like being a housewife, I keep it all in a tight grip.
And what is the most important thing for you now?
A. N .: I can’t say it. For me, everything is important. I cannot sacrifice my personal life for the profession, nor the profession for the sake of my personal life. These are two things that are very important to me, and I could not exist, act and be happy without one of them. I didn’t think about children for quite a long time, I was already 35, and then I realized: yes, I need something else. I wanted a family, a child, and now I’m very happy: I’m done, I’m a good girl! Of course, when Thiago was born, it was difficult at first, because I lived all my life for myself. In order to sing, I need to get enough sleep, eat right, be healthy … And then a child appears, and he needs so much attention, and strength, and everything. Sister – thank you very much! – I was very, very helpful … either my sister, or friends, or nannies. It’s quiet here now. You have no idea what happened a week and a half ago.
Was your son here in Vienna?
A.N .: Yes, Thiago was with me for a month. This was happening here: children, bicycles, balls, a bunch of people, walks, smoke like a yoke! It was a lot of fun! He has now returned to New York, to school. My son is autistic and studies with other children who need special attention; teachers do not allow him to be taken away for a long time, to miss classes.
In America, they work very successfully with such children …
A. N .: That’s why I went there with Thiago two years ago! America is famous for its specialists, there is a famous institute where they practice the ABA * method. Therapists say the outlook is good. But this is very serious. I wouldn’t be able to do anything on my own. These should be specially trained teachers with an iron nervous system. Because what is therapy? No drugs, just classes, lessons. They teach him to do what they need, and not what he needs. And he has character! He is well done, very, very smart, his intelligence exceeds the age norm. He writes in Russian and English, reads, draws, sings songs.
Help those who are in difficulty
Charity is a special and important part of Anna’s life. Although she considers it wrong to discuss this topic publicly. The singer participates in large and socially significant projects, when it is clear what and where the money goes. First of all, from her point of view, sick people and children need support. In 2012, Anna Netrebko, together with her common-law husband Erwin Schrott, created a children’s charitable foundation. And although the couple broke up, the fund continues to operate. He sponsors the Institute of Pediatric Orthopedics. G.I. Turner in St. Petersburg, the international project “SOS-Kinderdorf”, helping orphans in 132 countries of the world. Anna also supports the Roerich Heritage International Charitable Foundation.
I saw footage where he looks into his eyes, laughs …
A. N .: Yes, he looks into your eyes, he flirts, he will play theater for you here! You see, there are different types of autists. Outwardly, Thiago is a completely ordinary child. The biggest problem with speech is that he can’t tell a coherent story yet. This is what the school is working on. Let them work. And my job is to love. Pamper, but how? Laugh with him. He loves hugs. I can even without words just cuddle him.
Have you accepted that your child is special?
A. N .: It was difficult. And did not take for a long time! For almost a year I didn’t even want to listen to anything: my child, and he’s all right. And it is not necessary so; you need to accept it right away, and the sooner you start acting, the better, everything is formed at an early age. You see, now because of the school, unfortunately, I see him less. Before, he traveled with me all the time … I think that the whole story with Thiago, of course, had a very strong effect on me. After her, I became quite an adult, serious.
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What surprised you in your life?
A. N .: I did not expect such efficiency from myself. For example, I listen to how some singer performs an incredibly complex part, and I think: “God, how she sings! I can’t do that!” And a month later I took it and sang it myself! Surprised? Yes! At first I always think: “Never in my life! Never!” But then, when I start working, the fear goes away.
Do you know the feeling of shame?
A. N .: I have never done anything that I would be ashamed of. Absolutely. My most important principle – no matter what I do, no matter how my life turns, is not to change myself. It’s useless to impose anything on me. If something causes me rejection from the very beginning, I will never step over it.
How do you imagine the ideal woman? What is close to you?
A. N. (after a long pause): The one with good energy. Which glows like that, and everyone around feels good … If a woman is happy with herself, warmth comes from her, and complete harmony sets in.
Do you feel such harmony?
A. N .: Yes! I myself am a light person, and it is difficult for me to endure heavy people next to me. I am a good, calm woman, happy. I have such a wonderful friend. You yourself saw – yesterday he sang a performance, and today he flew in! Crazy! We sang in Italy together. Well, they got it. In recent years, I was completely not up to myself, not up to love, not up to anything. Well, then, it is difficult with this my profession. Who will stand it? No one! It’s one thing to fall in love with some image, and another thing to live together. Although it seems to me that if I love a man, I will endure many things. For as long as I can. And when the limit comes, then I will not endure anything. I didn’t even think that there would be something else in my life … And here is such an unexpected turn.
Do you have a feeling of fullness of life?
A. N .: Yes! Now I am happy.
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1 ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) is a method of applied behavior analysis. An intensive training program that is widely used for the correction of autism spectrum disorders.