This interview was originally recorded on March 3rd, 2016.
The Oral History Project is supported by the Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Charitable Foundation.

Sondra Radvanovsky, soprano

Internationally celebrated soprano Sondra Radvanovsky has appeared on the world’s foremost stages, including The Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Teatro alla Scala, Opéra National de Paris, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Bayerische Staatsoper. Widely regarded as one of today’s leading interpreters of Verdi and Puccini, she has triumphed in roles such as Tosca, Turandot, Aida, Lady Macbeth, Leonora (Il trovatore, La forza del destino), Elisabetta (Don Carlo, Roberto Devereux), and Bellini’s Norma. Her portrayals of Puccini’s heroines have been hailed as “extraordinary” (New York Times) and “legendary” (Operawire), and her performances of Donizetti’s “Three Queens” — Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda, and Elisabetta — have further established her as one of the most versatile sopranos of her generation.

Radvanovsky’s artistry is preserved on acclaimed recordings, including Verdi Arias, the Warner Classics Turandot under Antonio Pappano, and The Three Queens with Lyric Opera of Chicago. She also appears on The Met: Live in HD broadcasts of Il trovatore, Un ballo in maschera, Roberto Devereux, and Medea. A graduate of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, she continues to be recognized as one of the most powerful and moving voices on the international opera stage.

Transcript

Marc A. Scorca: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the National Opera Center. I'm Marc Scorca, President of OPERA America. Please join me in welcoming Sondra Radvanovsky. Standing ovations; they happen so often for you. I'm sure they feel great every night when they happen.

Sondra Radvanovsky: Oh, you know, it's pretty overwhelming sometimes. You don't expect it, and you never plan for it to happen and expect it to happen, but when it does, it's really special.

Marc A. Scorca: In all of my interviews, I've never spoken with an artist about the adrenaline factor. And here you are, you go on night after night at the greatest opera houses in the world, and I guess you never get stale around that flow of adrenaline, and the excitement of having the spotlights on.

Sondra Radvanovsky: No, and you, the audience, really can make or break performances for us. For instance, in the Stuarda run, we had some nights where the house wasn't completely full. It was snowing one night, and, you know, the performance just kind of goes (indicates pedestrian) "Okay". But then when you get the amazing Saturday matinee, the broadcast, or the HD audiences, it's just electric, and it really ups our performances to a whole other level. So yeah, it's thrilling, and adrenaline is a wonderful thing. But when it wears off, it's really bad. I'll be sitting there, my husband will say, "I'll be talking to Sondra, and all of a sudden it's like the light switch and mid-sentence, I will just (indicates snap moment and head falling to sleep).

Marc A. Scorca: Yeah. It is a drug. But the lesson is, if you want to have a really great performance, then make sure you bring enough friends to fill the house and everything is better. So, I always start my interviews with the question of who brought you to your first opera?

Sondra Radvanovsky: I'm gonna really throw you for a loop on this one. My first opera, I was in.

Marc A. Scorca: Wow. What was that and where was that?

Sondra Radvanovsky: It was Carmen. I was a smoke girl at the ripe age of 11.

Marc A. Scorca: And child labor laws didn't prevent things.

Sondra Radvanovsky: And it was in this lovely town called Richmond, Indiana, where I lived, at the Whitewater Opera. And that was my very first opera that I saw. Well, I think right around then, I saw Tosca with Plácido Domingo.

Marc A. Scorca: I know that that's an important story, but how did you happen to be a smoke girl in Carmen?

Sondra Radvanovsky: Richmond, Indiana being such the hubbub town, you know huge...(indicates 'not'). The opera director and his wife were also the music director at our church, and I was in the little kids' choir, and then the medium kids' choir. So, they took my mom aside and said, "She has a talent, 'a God-given talent'" was the word. "And we would really like her to pursue singing". And my mom said, "Well yeah, that's what she wants". And I started taking voice lessons at 11. And so they all were kind of in cahoots and said, "Hey, why doesn't she try the children's chorus?"

Marc A. Scorca: 11 is such a young age to really identify vocal talent. You enjoyed singing and you could hold the pitch...?

Sondra Radvanovsky: Loved it. I harmonized with Karen Carpenter records when I was five years old, my mother said. I don't remember it. I remember singing along with Karen Carpenter, but yeah, harmonizing with her records. And it's a gift and everybody has a God-given talent, and I just found mine out at a very early age.

Marc A. Scorca: How fabulous. Now what's the Plácido story?

Sondra Radvanovsky: Plácido. We were just flipping through the TV, and there's this thing, with all the pomp and circumstance outside, and the music was beautiful, and I'm listening to it. And I said to my mom, "What is that?" She said, "Well honey, that's opera". "Ooh, I like that". And you know, then Plácido's singing and I said, "Oh, I wanna do that". At 11 years old.

Marc A. Scorca: Did you have any doubt through junior or senior high school? Or was it pretty clear from that point forward?

Sondra Radvanovsky: There was a moment. I was also a flautist, first chair all through high school, junior high school. Really loved it, but the passion for it really wasn't there. But, when I went to college, I was studying privately flute lessons as well as voice lessons. And I flipped a coin. No joke. Honestly, flipped a coin, and thank God it came out the way it did.

Marc A. Scorca: I do find that opera singers who have studied an instrument, especially something like flute, where you have to develop your breath...

Sondra Radvanovsky: Exactly.

Marc A. Scorca: ...the vibrato and phrasing. That having an instrumental parallel track is very helpful to you as an artist.

Sondra Radvanovsky: Yeah, and the flutes usually have the melody, like the sopranos usually do. So no, it was very helpful in the musical education that I got, and I still played when I was in college. But absolutely, my emphasis was vocal.

Marc A. Scorca: And then you were extremely diplomatic, in studying at both USC and UCLA...

Sondra Radvanovsky: Oh, there's a few others in there too.

Marc A. Scorca: So that, instead of picking or choosing, you just did both.

Sondra Radvanovsky: Well, you know, the football games were always exciting. Which team do I root for?

Marc A. Scorca: And then CCM. So what was the sequence? You had a God-given gift, and yet you followed a course of formal musical training. So, what was that path?

Sondra Radvanovsky: Well, CCM - I went for two summers in their summer program, and studied voice one year and flute the other year. Then we moved from the hubbub town of Richmond, Indiana to Southern California. My father was transferred, and I spent two years of high school there, studied privately. My mom knew that I had this gift, and she kind of looked around for a good voice teacher for me to study with. So, we found a great teacher in Los Angeles. We were in Orange County. And I would drive up every weekend to LA to study with this gentleman, Charles Roe was his name, who also was then at USC as a professor. Needless to say, I got a full scholarship to USC as a vocal major, and studied there for two years. I left USC, went and studied privately with Martial Singher, and was a theater major at UCLA at the same time, because they would allow me to study voice and work in the voice department, but not be a voice major and not have to study with a teacher there, because I met Martial Singher, and we had a real great connection. So now my commute from Orange County to LA was Orange County to Santa Barbara, which was like three hours. And he would send me home occasionally when I wasn't prepared. I would drive three hours up to Santa Barbara, and he would just say, "Sondra, you know, you're gonna learn a lesson today. You don't know your music. Go home". "Okay". So that was USC to UCLA. Then I went and studied at Chapman College in Orange County. And then I quit. I have no degree, no formal degree. I probably have enough hours and credits to have a degree, but I realized that I learned more out in the world. And, you know, some people, education and school, it's for them.

Marc A. Scorca: But you were on a path, and I think the great successful people follow the path, not necessarily the normal one, but their own personal one.

Sondra Radvanovsky: Yeah, and it was a very difficult decision, and a lot of young singers nowadays ask me, "Well, you have no degree?" "Yeah, but I still studied". I probably was in four years of college, so I did get the musical education, studied privately, was still studying voice privately, but that wasn't the route for me. And I was in a young artist program at Opera Pacific (when it was still around) at 21 years old.

Marc A. Scorca: Because I saw in your bio that you sang your first full-length opera at 21.

Sondra Radvanovsky: Yes, but not there; back in Richmond, Indiana.

Marc A. Scorca: At Whitewater Opera.

Sondra Radvanovsky: Whitewater Opera, yes. And I had to audition for it, and it was Mimì.

Marc A. Scorca: Were you ready for it?

Sondra Radvanovsky: (Long exhale of breath). Is one ever ready for their first opera? I think it was the right thing at the right time, at the right place. Put it that way. If it had been at The Metropolitan Opera, no.

Marc A. Scorca: I note that Whitewater Opera doesn't exist anymore, and Opera Pacific doesn't exist anymore. It makes me worry about La Scala.

Sondra Radvanovsky: I'm just gonna bite my tongue on that one.

Marc A. Scorca: When I speak with singers in these interviews, lots of times they don't discover they have a voice until they're in college.

Sondra Radvanovsky: Oh, yeah.

Marc A. Scorca: They're kind of a music theater person, and in college, the voice teacher says, "You know, you may wanna go into opera". So, there's a real way in which you had a 10 year head start, in understanding the gift and having the talent. And classical music was a part of you by the time you went away to college.

Sondra Radvanovsky: Oh, absolutely. I already knew the 24 Italian hits by then. I started with those at age of 11. And I never sang pop music. I never sang Broadway. It was always classical music. I know, I'm weird.

Marc A. Scorca: And then you won The Met National Council Auditions, again, at an early age relative to others, but at a point in your training where it was consistent with how much you'd studied already.

Sondra Radvanovsky: Yeah. I'm surprised they chose me, but, yeah.

Marc A. Scorca: Was it your first year of competition?

Sondra Radvanovsky: Yeah. I said to myself, well, you know me, "I'm gonna win The Met Competition the first time I do it, and I'm gonna sing on The Met stage by the time I'm 30". So I was 25 and one day old when I won the competition, and I sang "Ritorna vincitor"...

Marc A. Scorca: Wow.

Sondra Radvanovsky: And they still chose me... They must have heard something, but to backtrack, I didn't sing the full opera of Aida until like 40.

Marc A. Scorca: But you showed what you could do.

Sondra Radvanovsky: I think the word is sophomoric. I was very green. But yes, it was the first year that I did it, and very lucky.

Marc A. Scorca: At 25, Met Council audition winner. And were you old enough to embrace that? Were you surprised by it? "Okay, let's just keep on going". It's such a young age at which to have that kind of accolade?

Sondra Radvanovsky: I don't think all of it sank in, quite frankly. I don't think a lot of things sank in until probably about five or six years ago for me. When one takes a moment to really step away from it, and to get off of the mouse wheel - you know, the rats going around - I took a moment and kind of stepped back and reflected on all of it, and thought, "Wow". It was just, for me...I knew, (and this sounds very egotistical, and please don't take it this way), I knew that I was gonna sing at The Met. In my being, I knew that my voice was meant for a theater that big, because I had a very large instrument, and everybody always told me that I had a large instrument and "Stop singing so loud; you have a very large voice". So I kind of put two and two together and thought. "Yeah, okay".

Marc A. Scorca: And that is certainly one of the challenges for young singers today, because the large voice, the unusual voice, doesn't have a clear path.

Sondra Radvanovsky: Absolutely.

Marc A. Scorca: Your next step was into the Lindemann Young Artist Program. So, you weren't doing a young artist program where you had to sing chorus, which probably would not have worked for your voice.

Sondra Radvanovsky: No, no. Just to backtrack, when I was in Chapman College, I was in three choirs; we were required to be in choir, and I was told, "Stand in the back row. Move your mouth. Do not sing". So, we come to the day of the choir finals, and there was a voice competition that I made the finals in - the Palm Springs Opera Guild, which I ended up winning. And so, I called the choir director and said, "Listen, I made the finals. I'm not gonna make the finals for the chorus", (every year you had to do it). He said, "Fine, well then you're gonna get three F's".

Marc A. Scorca: Wow.

Sondra Radvanovsky: And, you know, that was the moment when I said, "School is not for me". They should really embrace individuality. And here, they just really stamped it down. But this is a choir in which I was not singing and stood in the back row and moved my mouth. So yeah, it's really sad.

Marc A. Scorca: And that illustrates (and it's something that in our Singer Training Forum we talk about) how the cookie cutter approach within the educational system frequently gets in the way of the advancement of people who have unique talents.

Sondra Radvanovsky: Absolutely. And everybody comes to it at a different time, at a different pace, and definitely through different doors. And my story is different than another young artist, and kids nowadays will ask me, "Well, you know, I wanna be just like you". And I say, "No, no, no. You find your own route", because quite frankly, I don't know if everybody would want to take the route that I took. I mean, I had no social life. Honestly, my life was music. I was single-track mind, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. So I gave up a lot for it, but I wouldn't turn down a minute of it again.

Marc A. Scorca: And thus that moment of reflection a few years ago, after decades of determination to just realize that arrival had been achieved.

Sondra Radvanovsky: You know, it was a moment. It was like an epiphany one day. I looked at my husband and I said, "I'm really there, aren't I?" And he said, "Duh-uh. You need me to really answer that". It's that aha-moment when you just say, "Wow, it's everything that I ever wanted. And I have all of that, and I've achieved all of that. What now? What am I gonna do after the three queens? I mean, how does one top that?" I said to Plácido (Domingo), 'cause on my 35th birthday, we started rehearsals for Cyrano de Bergerac at The Met. And Plácido Domingo sang (full circle) Happy Birthday to me, and I'm thinking, "He's the reason why I'm here". And I said to Plácido, "Well, what am I gonna do now? I mean, my dream was to sing at The Met with you in a leading tenor role", and he says, "Well Sondra, you have to go get another dream". "Oh, okay"... Well, I got one, and now what do we do?

Marc A. Scorca: I'm sure that among the 58 operas that Donizetti wrote, there must be a fourth queen someplace.

Sondra Radvanovsky: We'll make one.

Marc A. Scorca: So, The Met Auditions and the Lindemann program. And the Lindemann Program, not like other young artist programs, you didn't have to sing chorus.

Sondra Radvanovsky: No. I did sing the Fourth Tree to the Right, and then the Third Tree to the Left. I progressed from left to right tree, but yes, I did do small roles.

Marc A. Scorca: After all of these years that you had done of study: private study, study within academic institutions, what did a program like the Lindemann Program give you, that you hadn't had before?

Sondra Radvanovsky: Well, it was individualized. It was a program only like The Met or Chicago Lyric, or, you know, these big opera houses can provide, because they have A), the resources with the best coaches in the world, the best music staff. I had opportunities - every night I could see a different opera, different singers, and I just absorbed all of it. And some of the singers didn't go to operas. I went every night not just to hear good singing, but to hear bad singing, because - I'm sorry - you learn from all of that. And you become friends with (other colleagues) and, "Oh, so-and-so is sick tonight". "Okay, how do they manage the voice? Okay, let me hone in on that". Or some days I was working with my teacher on how to sing high and soft or high notes. "Okay, how does this soprano approach that?" And I mean, you can't get that at a university, because they're just not at the same level. And to have the language coaches and fight coordinators and the opportunity to watch the whole rehearsal process was, for me, invaluable, because I wasn't ready at 25 to go and sing Aida. I was fortunate in that I still did get stage time because I'm a person that (I found out) really learns by just going and doing it. So I would go on stage and either fall completely on my rear end, but the next time I went and did it, "I will learn from that. Okay, I kacked on that high note, but what am I gonna do, to do it differently?" And it's really trial by fire. And I was so lucky doing Countess Ceprano and Kate Pinkerton, and the High Priestess. I think I hold the record for singing the most High Priestesses at The Met. But you're on stage, but you're off stage. And so each night you could try something a little different, and it's invaluable. I mean, no amount of money can replace that education.

Marc A. Scorca: I'm fascinated by your repertoire. And these days, there are so many singers I speak with who have this A to Z repertoire. They do baroque opera and new opera, and they do bread and butter repertoire. You have a real focus. I first knew you through wonderful Trovatores in different houses. My travel schedule and your vocal schedule coincided, so I heard you do Trovatore everywhere. And Puccini in the mix, and now Bel Canto. But it's very much a repertoire that is 1800 to 1900, round figures.

Sondra Radvanovsky: Yes.

Marc A. Scorca: Is there a benefit, do you think, to you artistically in having that kind of focus, that you know your repertoire?

Sondra Radvanovsky: Yes and no, I guess. Yes, because I think - I go back to Martial Singher, and I digress, but he says to me...I had a plane ticket to go audition at Juilliard to be in their young program. And because Martial Singher hadn't taken me as a full-time student, (he was old when I studied with him). And so, I go and I have this voice lesson, and he says, "Well, I have some good news and some bad news". I said, "Okay, well, let's have the good news". And he said, "You're gonna be an opera singer". "What's the bad news?" "You have no idea how much work it's gonna be". And he said, "If you are going to be a soprano that sings this, you have to be the very best at one thing, not okay in a lot of things". And I always had that in the back of my mind, even after he passed away, that do one thing really well. And then I have Mirella Freni's voice in my head and Renata Scotto saying, "Sing what you love. The audience will know if you love it. They'll also know if you don't love it". And so these two voices are always in my head when I choose new roles saying, "Do you really love this?" And "Be the best that you can be at what you're doing". So I speak Italian. I don't speak German, and I get this all the time, "When are you gonna start singing German music?" I don't speak it. I love to listen to it. It doesn't touch my heart the same way Italian music does, so I'm missing out on a lot, I'm sure, not singing some of this other stuff, but this is the music that speaks to me. And I think if you're gonna do it, do it a hundred percent.

Marc A. Scorca: And we certainly can point to all of your great singer ancestors who had focused repertoires; they mastered what they did. So there's great pedigree in that.

Sondra Radvanovsky: I've done a few (different things). I did Susannah, and that was a lot of fun, but I've not really stepped out of that too much.

Marc A. Scorca: And drawn so early as you were to Puccini and Verdi, which were two of your signature composers, your voice was built for it, but that music also spoke to you from that early time in your training?

Sondra Radvanovsky: Oh, yeah. I joke that Verdi comes and talks to me in the middle of the night. He tells me, "Sondra don't do that", or "Yeah". No, I was always attracted to it, and I go back to Martial Singher. I was 17, 18 when I studied with him, and he was the first one who introduced me. He said, "You're gonna be a Verdi soprano". And I said, "What's that?" You know, at 17...? And he said, "Go buy a recording of Leontyne Price singing Verdi arias". And that was it. Hooked. Hook, line and sinker, learned 'Ave Maria'.

Marc A. Scorca: So, a kind of perfect marriage between what your vocal talent was, and what you were emotionally drawn to.

Sondra Radvanovsky: Absolutely. And I'm very, very lucky. I say that the singers that I admire are the singers that have the right voice for their passion. They look the part; they feel the part. They're fortunate in that there's this marriage between the passion for what they sing and what their voice wants to sing. And those are two different things.

Marc A. Scorca: So this coloratura stuff?

Sondra Radvanovsky: (Purses lips warily) Yes?

Marc A. Scorca: 

When you're talking about Verdi and Puccini in your twenties, that is all enormously difficult, demanding music, but it doesn't have all of the coloratura. When did that creep into your system?

Sondra Radvanovsky: Ooof. I do things backwards. So, I started with the Verdi and the Puccini.

Marc A. Scorca: 'Cause you're right; you think of the younger voice having all of that agility, right?

Sondra Radvanovsky: It all started - I am very open about it - I had vocal surgery in 2002. Most likely the doctors think it's from when I was intubated as a child, when I had pneumonia and nicked one of my vocal cords. So, there was always a bit of a scar there. And the more I sang, the more the scar built up. So I had that removed in 2002. I'd learned how to sing with it; then I had to learn how to sing without this impediment. And it changed my voice. It gave it more agility and flexibility. And that's really when we started to kind of think about all these lighter roles, in a way, because it gave me more flexibility; it gave me this agility. And I remember Lenore Rosenberg, one of the artistic administrators at The Metropolitan Opera, gave me a cover and two performances of Louisa Miller at The Met. Some of you who know Louisa Miller, that first aria (makes quizzical face). And I remember opening up the score, because I didn't know Louisa Miller.

Marc A. Scorca: And this is after 2002?

Sondra Radvanovsky: This is after 2002. And I'm looking at the score going, "Oh no, there's too many black notes on that page. I can't do that. I've never done that". And she said, "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You're gonna do it and you're gonna do it really well". And it was a lot of work. I'm not gonna lie, getting a larger instrument, to be able to whittle it down, to be able to move it through that color to a facility was something very new to me, very foreign. And there were a lot of tears and a lot of slamming of score, saying, "That's it. I'm done. I can't do this. I wanna sing Tosca". But God bless my coach, who I've known now for almost 21 years, (Anthony) Tony Manoli, persisted and said, "No, Sondra, this is for you". And I said, "Okay, I trust you. You know my voice better than I do". And he was right.

Marc A. Scorca: And in terms of achieving it, it was just practice, practice, practice? Was there new technique with a voice teacher, or just practice, practice?

Sondra Radvanovsky: A little bit of both. At that time, I was still studying with Ruth Falcon, who was my teacher right from the very beginning.

Marc A. Scorca: An important teacher for big voices.

Sondra Radvanovsky: Yes, an important teacher: Deborah Voigt, Margaret Jane Wray, a lot of big-voice sopranos. That was really her specialty. And also studying with my coach, Tony Manoli, and learning how to finesse, because that's really what it is with a larger instrument. Learning the delicacies and the intricacies and the filigree, and how to really make the voice do all of that, and trusting that. And that for me was the biggest hurdle, trusting that when you're not singing at 120%, that it's enough to fill that opera house. As I tell young singers when I work with them - singers learn either way or both ways, either by listening, or by a physical sensation. And singers need to learn how they trust their technique, either by how it sounds to their ear, or how it feels in their body. And once I learned how I trust that my voice is in the right place, it really helped me move forward quickly.

Marc A. Scorca: So, the Louisa Miller went well?

Sondra Radvanovsky: For the most part, yeah, I think so. I think the audiences really liked it. It was a big breakthrough for me, put it that way, in that it was with Maestro Levine. It was early Verdi, as opposed to later Verdi, and I learned a lot, put it that way. Was it a huge success? You know, we're singers; we're very critical of ourselves.

Marc A. Scorca: Oh, for sure. Then Norma and the Donizetti queens...

Sondra Radvanovsky: Oh, you're just grilling me today.

Marc A. Scorca: Because some of the great turn-of-the-20th-century sopranos who sang the Brünnhildes and sang Norma, said they'd rather sing all the Brünnhildes in a row than to sing Norma, fiendishly difficult roles. How do you learn, how do you prepare those roles so that they're in your voice, in your system?

Sondra Radvanovsky: You know, I compare singers to ice skaters or ballet dancers, and there's something called muscle memory. And really, you have to do something - and this is scientifically proven - you have to do something 50 times correctly in order for your muscles to go, "Ah, okay, I see what you're trying to do". So, repetition, repetition correctly, just doing it over and over again, and each time, a little differently, trying to sing a little softer, trying to sing a little higher and softer or louder or lower, or mixing, or, "Oh, let's try this". It's experimenting. And I tell young singers, "Your best coach is yourself", and you have to trust that it's inside of you, that you can be given only so much information, and then after that, you have to find it yourself. So hours and hours in the music room, just really trying it this way, "Oh, well that didn't work. Let's try it this way. Oh, well, that was a little better". But just really going at it.

Marc A. Scorca: Does the character take shape as you're going through this musical crucible to master the music?

Sondra Radvanovsky: I have to say, Norma really didn't take shape as a character for me until I actually got on stage. You know, vocally, it is a very dramatic role, but the first two times I sang it were in concert performances. So, it was more just, "Dear God, can I get through this without making a complete fool of myself?" Honestly, I wanted to get from A to Z and just (be done).

Marc A. Scorca: But how smart to start it out in concert performances.

Sondra Radvanovsky: Yeah. I have, and had, great managers, and have not just managers, but people that have helped shape my career, that just didn't pick up the phone and say, "Oh yeah, Sondra's free. She can sing Brünnhilde this week, and then Norma next week". One has to think (as Maria Callas says) "The voice is not an elevator", and you have to think about the projection and how they all line up. So, I don't think that Norma really became a character for me until I was on stage and on my feet with it, and had the little kids to play, and people to interact with. And that's a role that each time I do it, I find more and more about her, because she is so complex. Just like these three queens, I'm very fortunate in that I did all three of them at least once before I came and did them here, because that would just be suicide...

Marc A. Scorca: So, who had this crazy idea of doing all three queens in the same season? Did you say, "Peter, I have this idea...". Did he call you and say, "Sondra, this sound may sound crazy, but what do you think?" Where did the idea start?

Sondra Radvanovsky: Well, some of you may know, I think it was originally planned as a project for Anna Netrebko. She said, "No, I don't wanna do all three". She just wanted to do the Anna Bolena. So, I had lunch with Sarah Billinghurst, who's no longer at The Metropolitan Opera, and she said, "We're just gonna throw this out there". And this was probably five, six years ago now, and I had just done, like my first Bel Canto. I did Lucrezia Borgia. I don't even think I'd done Norma yet. I had it on the schedule. She said, "Crazy idea, we want you to do the three Donizetti queens". And I said, "And they are?" Truly, that's how outta left field it came for me. I was singing Ballo and Tosca and Aida at that point. So I said, "I'm gonna have to get back to you. You could be asking me to sing Brünnhilde and I just don't know". And so I took it to my coach and said, "All right, what do you think?" And I was given the option in the Stuarda of either singing Maria Stuarda or Elizabeth. And I decided on Maria, and I'm really glad that I did that. Yeah, we took like a month or two and kind of looked at them, sang through them, and I said, "Can I really do this?" And I mean, not just do it as I go back to Martial Singher's voice in my head saying, "If you're gonna do it, be the very best at it". And I thought, "You know, no one's ever done this before". And it didn't sink in when I said yes too, you know? "Sure, I'll do all three of 'em". And then, like about a year ago when I was really starting to ramp up for doing all three of them here, I thought, "Holy cow, what did I just get myself into? Wow. I said yes to this". So, one by one, I did them in different cities just to really get them under your belt, and thank God.

Marc A. Scorca: I think a lot of singers today shy away from doing repertoire that inevitably compares them to great predecessors.

Sondra Radvanovsky: Absolutely.

Marc A. Scorca: But you just take it on. How much do you think about your predecessors in some of these great roles? Do you listen for musical cues for technical things? Do you put them aside and say, "No, I'm just gonna take this on myself". How do you wrestle with your heritage in that way?

Sondra Radvanovsky: Well I mean, singing Norma at The Metropolitan Opera, you know, walking out on stage, I think that was one of the scariest days of my life thinking, "Okay, who stood on this stage and sang this role?" And you're under, especially with that role, you are under a microscope, because you're always compared to Callas, (Montserrat) Caballé, (Joan) Sutherland, you know? And I thought, "Well, okay, not everybody likes my voice; not everybody gets my voice, and I'm fine with that. I mean, Maria Callas, the same way. But preparing for all of these, the three queens, Norma, all of these monumental roles, of course one has to listen to the predecessors. They were one generation closer to the composer. They probably had more information from the composer than our generation, and so on and so on. And of course, you have to give them credit. Maria Callas, the best Norma ever, in my opinion. Sutherland, Caballé, all of them, Leyla Gencer - all different. And so, you have to listen and say, "Okay, well, Caballé's voice, how is it similar to mine? How is it different than mine? Callas's voice: how is it similar? How is it different? Okay. And the part of the voice that they do similar things". I mean, it's research, and if you just go with a bare bones, it's breaking it down. "Okay, how do they do this? How do they do that? What did they do? Where did they breathe? What was the characterization? What did they do? Okay". And then you take all that information, and you put it up here (points to head), and then you throw it all away. And then you put your own personal stamp on it and try to make it your own. But still, with all that information in the data banks back here going, "Okay well..." It's all there and circulating and percolating, but still, I don't wanna be the second Maria Callas. I wanna be the first Sondra Radvanovsky. And you know, I appreciate that people compare me to Leontyne Price and Maria Callas and Leyla Gencer. At least they're not comparing me to Joe Schmo, but still, I just wanna be me and put my own artistic interpretation in it.

Marc A. Scorca: One of the things that we try to convey to young singers is that a commencement from university really is commencing. You haven't finished anything.

Sondra Radvanovsky: Exactly.

Marc A. Scorca: And at this point, do you still study with a voice teacher?

Sondra Radvanovsky: All the time. Yeah, I was with my coach last night for two hours, because today we had our sitzprobe, our first orchestra rehearsal. Didn't go so well because I was slightly sick this morning. But yes, absolutely. Listen, we're human beings. Our emotions are our voice. It's not like I can pick up a violin and it's always the same, or play the piano. It's always the same. We have so many variables. You know, I'm getting older, so the voice changes as we get older. I might be sick. I might have something going on in my personal life. Absolutely, and especially with these roles, I have to have another set of ears that are constantly checking in and saying, "Okay, Sondra", especially this role, the Devereux, because she is angry all the time, and the costume is so heavy. And that's when bad habits start to creep in, when you're compensating for something like a 50 pound costume that's six feet wide, or you're tired and you're singing over fatigue, and that's when bad habits start. So, I do not work with a voice teacher anymore; I just work with Tony, my coach. He's the best set of ears in the world that I know, and he understands my voice better than I understand my voice, which is infuriating, but he knows when I'm gonna miss a note. He knows it before I do it. ("How do you know that?") So yes, constantly.

Marc A. Scorca: Do you do masterclasses?

Sondra Radvanovsky: I do.

Marc A. Scorca: How does that work? Do you enjoy it?

Sondra Radvanovsky: I absolutely love it, and I teach privately as well, when I have time. As I said, I had vocal surgery. I learned how to sing with an impediment. Then I had to learn how to sing without an impediment. So, vocal technique really is my passion. And passing that on to the new generation of singers, I think is imperative. I think so many young singers nowadays think, like you said, you get out of college and "Okay, ready? I'm gonna sing at The Metropolitan Opera". (wags finger) It doesn't happen like that. And you have to have a solid technique. And this is a society and a culture nowadays that it's just quick use. We have disposable clothing and we have disposable singers, and I really try to emphasize to singers that, if you build a good foundation with a good technique, you'll be singing like Plácido Domingo is still now, because we have this foundation, this technique set up. And would you rather sing for a long time? You know, the tortoise and the hare. Do you wanna sing for a long time and take your time like the tortoise, and go slowly, or be the hare? And listen, if you wanna sing for five years and do really well for five years and then be done, that's an option. I'm very passionate about it, I really am.

Marc A. Scorca: It is difficult for young singers who are less gifted than you were with your instrument, that those five years, they're outta the conservatory...the career hasn't really taken off. It's really hard in those years.

Sondra Radvanovsky: And I sympathize with them, and that's why I really want to try to pass this along. I was in their exact same place. I wanted to sing at all the big opera houses, but I knew that if I did that too soon, A), I wasn't ready vocally and B), I knew that it would have that short career. I would definitely be the hare, and I would be burnt out in five years.

Marc A. Scorca: You have sung in all of the great houses, when we look at the list of London, Paris, Scala, Vienna, The Met, San Francisco, Chicago, I could go on. Is there a real difference between working in American houses and working in European houses? Is the level of professionalism the same across all of these great houses? Are there differences?

Sondra Radvanovsky: No (but with affirmative nodding head). La Scala is one opera house that I will not be singing in ever again, just because of the level of professionalism. And I take my art seriously, and I expect everyone else in the opera house to take it just as seriously. And when that is not even met halfway, why should I waste my time? If they don't wanna be there, why should I want to be there, for instance? But yes, I think that North American houses, 'cause I'll include Canada as well, I think that there's a reason why they're doing so well. People work very hard. I think that North American singers are some of the best singers in the world, because they do work very hard at languages - we have to work harder at languages. English is our first language. It's not Italian, it's not German, it's not French. We have to work harder at all of that. And I think that it shows with a lot of the North American singers. That said, there are a lot of great houses in Europe as well. I just singled out one that isn't as great...

Marc A. Scorca: With a reputation of being a difficult house in which to sing.

Sondra Radvanovsky: Yes, yes. And it's difficult to turn that down, but there are great opera houses over in Europe, and I mean, that's where opera started. So, there's a level of education, not saying that North America doesn't have this, but it's just historically they've had opera longer than we have. And it's in their blood and in their schools more than it is here. And it's really sad. And that's something that I'm fighting for, as I'm sure you all are too here with OPERA America, getting the education, getting opera and music and keeping it in schools. That's really an issue.

Marc A. Scorca: What about the lifestyle choices? We had our National Trustee Weekend, and we had 35 trustees from opera companies. We did a panel to bring them into greater focus around the challenges of a singer - you think it's all glamor?

Sondra Radvanovsky: Oh sure. I eat bonbons all day.

Marc A. Scorca: Great costumes and applause and standing ovations in your particular case. But when you're as busy as you are, you're not home very much.

Sondra Radvanovsky: Home?

Marc A. Scorca: So, when you're talking to young singers about career development, you talk about technique and you talk about study and languages and acting, what advice do you give them on the personal dimension of being a singer?

Sondra Radvanovsky: That's a very good question. And in fact, I tell young singers, vocal technique and being able to sing at this point should be a given. You all should know, mostly, how to sing - we can fine-tune it, but having a career is more than just singing. And I mean, we're on the road, but being on the road 11 months out of the year, and living outta three suitcases, that is my home. And I tell young singers that you really have to have a thick skin, because you have to accept criticism, because when you're in the public eye, I've been told, "Oh, have you gained weight?" "Are you pregnant Sondra?" or, "Oh, she's not singing so well, this must be the demise of her career". You have to be able to just take that and throw it away. I tell this to young singers all the time, you have to have the thick skin. You have to be very adaptable, in that if a director asks you to stand on your head while you're singing your high C, you say, "Well, I'll try that". Then you try it once and you try it twice, and the third time when you can't sing the high C standing on your head, you say, "Well, let's find another way". And you really have to learn so much more than just singing. And you have to be a psychiatrist to deal with some of the personalities in this business, and you have to learn diplomacy. I learned so much from watching Plácido Domingo after a performance of some Wagner opera where he's been on stage all night, and he has hundreds of people waiting.

Marc A. Scorca: And he talks to every one of them.

Sondra Radvanovsky: Every single one, shakes everyone's hand. And then goes to dinner afterwards, and then will show up at 10 o'clock the next morning for rehearsal. Never once does he complain. And I tell singers, "You really, really have to love this", because it isn't sitting in a hotel room eating bonbons. It's a very lonely life. And you're not gonna see your family for holidays and weddings and birthdays. Forget all of that, and you're gonna lose a lot of friends, but you're gonna find out who your friends are.

Marc A. Scorca: How do you catch your breath through all of this? How do you refresh yourself when the schedule is as busy as yours is?

Sondra Radvanovsky: I'm still working on that. It's difficult. I had a conference call with my manager just yesterday, and he said, "Listen, Sondra, if I could clone you four times over, we would have four of you that's completely booked", and, you know, that's great (exhaling of breath). I think that for me, it's very important, having a larger instrument, singing all of these very dramatic roles, to take a breather. And it's very important for me to step away from it. And this is something I only learned just in the last few years, to really give my voice, but also my body a rest, because I want to do this for many more years. I don't want my voice to give out and have to stop doing this. And I think that that's very important. And not to burn out and to take time and enjoy life too, and have that glass of wine.

Marc A. Scorca: Have you ever done a comedy? I was just sitting here thinking about your repertoire.

Sondra Radvanovsky: (indicates one, by raising forefinger).

Marc A. Scorca: Which is it?

Sondra Radvanovsky: Oh, it was awful. I will never, ever do it (again)...Fledermaus. It was so bad. Even the Met management came up and said, "Well, you know, we don't always get it right". Yeah, that was flop number two. Flop number one was Micaëla, and that was really just (makes 'out' motion). Poor Carmen - every night, I'm singing, (loudly) 'Je dis...' , and she (makes backing off gesture) "Don't hurt me, don't hurt me".

Marc A. Scorca: This frail little Micaëla.

Sondra Radvanovsky: It was like helden Micaëla; we joked about it. Not a good idea. It's funny because in real life, I'm a very upbeat, kind-of happy person, but on stage, the more miserable I am, the better off I am. I enjoy being miserable on stage. I really do.

Marc A. Scorca: Oh well, while you are enjoying being miserable, we are enjoying being inspired and enthralled and charmed by all that you do.

Audience Member #1: My name is Henry Strauss, and you suggested this because it's not really in your pay grade, but I saw your Maria Stuarda three times, and it's a very accessible opera, and you performed it amazingly, especially the Perugia part, but there were acres of empty seats in every performance, even the radio broadcast. So what should be done about that?

Sondra Radvanovsky: Oh, how much time do you have? We don't have a lot of time. What should be done about it? Well listen, The Metropolitan Opera is the largest opera house in the world, and that's a lot of seats to fill every night. And I know that people say that these opera houses over in Europe are full every night. Well yeah, they're half the size. I mean, there's a lot of things that can be done, and a lot of things I think that are being done and are going to be done, but I think it starts with education. Honestly, we have to start right at the very beginning. If children aren't learning about music and opera, they're not gonna come to see opera. You know, it's this spiraling downwards, and I think that without funding for the arts, and without education for the arts, we're gonna see many more empty houses. So I'm doing everything I can to get the word out. I mean, interviews...there might be something on Jeopardy coming up soon, so I'll put it out there to keep watching Jeopardy in the next month. That's all I guess I'm allowed to say. But I feel, and I, more than anyone, all of us artists feel it. We're on stage and you look out and you can see empty seats and you know, there's a part of your heart that just sinks because you're working so very hard. We're all working as artists so very hard to make this great art and to know that there could be more people there experiencing it. There's so many things that I could say, and Peter Gelb is definitely working on it. And all I can say is, please come.

Audience Member #2: I would like to ask you who was the first person who supported you in your career?

Sondra Radvanovsky: My mother. Yeah. My mom and dad, but supported as in like vocally?

Audience Member #2: Like gave you the opportunity in life, as a musician?

Sondra Radvanovsky: Probably The Metropolitan Opera, I would have to say. I was 24 when I did the National Council Auditions. And I have to thank them for believing in me, coming in and singing 'Ritorna vincitor' at 24. I mean, who does that? And I think that they saw something and James Levine and all of the artistic and musical staff at The Met, they really saw something and invited me into the Lindemann Young Artist Program. For sure I would say them, and I'm extremely grateful.

Audience Member #2: I just want to say that your voice is so unique, that I identify very much with your voice. I'm a musician, but I close my eyes and I know how your voice is; it is amazing. It was a great experience for me to see you in Trovatore at The Met - I think you were substituting for somebody?

Sondra Radvanovsky: Oh, a long time ago. The old production?

Audience Member #2: I saw you that day and I mean, I couldn't sleep that night.

Sondra Radvanovsky: Oh, thank you. Oh, that was a fun story.

Audience Member #3: Thank you. My name is Gwen. I noticed on your website that you're going to be in Paris soon, I believe in the future, and I don't see you coming to New York. Maybe the website's not up to date or maybe I didn't click far enough? I've been watching you since you did the Verdi opera, probably about four or five years ago that I'm not remembering the name of. But anyway, you blew my socks off and I've been following you since then. So, can you tell us when you're coming again to The Met?

Sondra Radvanovsky: Yeah, next season I will not be at The Metropolitan Opera. I'm sorry. I have a lot of engagements over in Europe next season and it's the way things happen. This will be my first season in 21 years that I won't be at The Met, but the season after that, I will be in a new production of Forza del Destino.

Marc A. Scorca: Let us wish Sondra luck and thank her for being with us.