Vesselina Kasarova (pronounced ka-
TSA-ro-va) was born in the central Bulgarian town of
Stara ZagoraStara Zagora is the sixth largest city in Bulgaria, and one of the nationally important economic centres. Stara Zagora is known as the city of straight streets, linden trees, and poets. According to the city's chamber of commerce, it is one of the oldest settlements in Europe, being at least eight...
in July 1965. Under the communist regime she studied Russian as a second language and began her music education in early childhood, taking her first piano lesson when she was only 4 years old. She gave her first stage performance as a 16-year-old pianist performing Mozart sonatas in 1981 in her hometown.
Early life and education
Vesselina Kasarova (pronounced ka-
TSA-ro-va) was born in the central Bulgarian town of
Stara ZagoraStara Zagora is the sixth largest city in Bulgaria, and one of the nationally important economic centres. Stara Zagora is known as the city of straight streets, linden trees, and poets. According to the city's chamber of commerce, it is one of the oldest settlements in Europe, being at least eight...
in July 1965. Under the communist regime she studied Russian as a second language and began her music education in early childhood, taking her first piano lesson when she was only 4 years old. She gave her first stage performance as a 16-year-old pianist performing Mozart sonatas in 1981 in her hometown. As she studied piano and worked as accompanist at recitals, Kasarova became drawn to the voice as musical instrument.
After earning her concert pianist diploma in 1987, Kasarova switched to study singing under Ressa Koleva at Sofia's Music Academy, focusing on the works of Mozart and Rossini. Kasarova gave her first singing performance in
Stara ZagoraStara Zagora is the sixth largest city in Bulgaria, and one of the nationally important economic centres. Stara Zagora is known as the city of straight streets, linden trees, and poets. According to the city's chamber of commerce, it is one of the oldest settlements in Europe, being at least eight...
singing "
Habanera" from Bizet's
Carmen. She performed at
Sofia National OperaThe National Opera and Ballet is a national cultural institution in Bulgaria that covers opera and ballet. It is based in an imposing building in the capital city of Sofia....
while still a student. She performed the part of
Rosina in
the Barber of Seville for her graduation exam.
Singing career
In 1988, while still a student, a demo tape recording of her performance was given to the renowned conductor
Herbert von KarajanHerbert von Karajan was an Austrian orchestra and opera conductor and one of the most renowned conductors in music history. His obituary in The New York Times described him as "probably the world's best-known conductor and one of the most powerful figures in classical music." Karajan conducted...
, who, upon hearing it, asked her to sing for him at the
Vienna State OperaThe Vienna State Opera is an opera house — and opera company — with a history dating back to the mid-19th century. It is located in the centre of Vienna, Austria. It was originally called the Vienna Court Opera ; in 1920, it was renamed the Vienna State Opera...
. Though Karajan died a week later, upon hearing this engaging singer his successor offered her 2 annual contracts starting in 1991.
Vesselina Kasarova graduated from the Conservatoire of Sofia in 1989 and spent the next two years at
Zurich OperaOper Zürich is an opera company based in Zürich, Switzerland. The company gives performances in the Opernhaus Zürich which has been the company’s home for fifty years.-History:...
. There she soon became a favorite with audiences appreciative of her intense characterizations, her expressive clarinet-ish voice, and virtuosic vocal agility. Her first role was two minor parts (2nd Norn and Wellgunde) in
WagnerWilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director and essayist, primarily known for his operas...
's
Götterdämmerung. In the same year she won first prize in the "
Neue Stimmen (New Voices)" international singing competition in
GüterslohGütersloh is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, in the area of Westphalia and the administrative region of Detmold. Gütersloh is the administrative centre for a district of the same name...
, Germany, sponsored by
BertelsmannBertelsmann AG is a transnational media corporation founded in 1835, based in Gütersloh, Germany. The company operates in 63 countries and employs 106,083 workers...
, owner of
BMGBertelsmann Music Group, , was a division of Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Sony Corporation of America on October 1, 2008. It was established in 1987 to combine the music label activities of Bertelsmann...
Classics. In 1991, she made her debut at the
Salzburg FestivalThe Salzburg Festival is a prominent festival of music and drama. It is held each summer within the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart...
singing 2 concerts in commemoration of Mozart's 200th death anniversary and as
Annio in Mozart's
La Clemenza di TitoLa clemenza di Tito , K. 621, is an opera seria composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with text after Metastasio. It was started after the bulk of The Magic Flute, the last opera that Mozart worked on, was already written .-Background:In July 1791, the last year of his life,...
under Sir
Colin DavisSir Colin Rex Davis, CH, CBE is an English conductor.-Career:Davis studied the clarinet at the Royal College of Music in London, where he was barred from taking conducting lessons owing to his lack of ability at the piano...
. In that same year she left Zurich to fulfill her contract at the Vienna State Opera debuting in the role of
Rosina in
RossiniGioachino Antonio Rossini was a popular Italian composer who wrote 39 operas as well as sacred music and chamber music. His best known works include Il barbiere di Siviglia , La Cenerentola, La gazza ladra and Guillaume Tell...
's The Barber of Seville, and remained with the company for 2 years. There she married her Swiss husband.
Her international career took flight in Salzburg in 1992 when at short notice, she stood in for
Marilyn HorneMarilyn Horne is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer who is particularly associated with the music of Rossini and Handel. She began her career as a light lyric soprano; however, as the years progressed, the voice settled and matured into a mezzo-soprano instrument with a full and rich timbre...
as
Tancredi in two concert performances of the Rossini opera. Since then she has been a regular guest performer at that summer festival, performing in Mozart's
La Clemenza di Tito', 'Idomeneo', 'Cosi fan tutte', 'Mitridate', 'Ombra Felice, and Berlioz's
La Damnation de Faust. She has also performed at other notable opera festivals such as Bregenz, St. Moritz, Glyndebourne, and Pesaro.
Kasarova initially specialized in Mozart's operas and works by bel canto composers such as Rossini, Bellini, and Donizetti, but has since been adding roles from the Baroque operas such as
Orphée in Gluck's "Orphée et Eurydice",
Ruggiero in Händel's "
AlcinaAlcina is an opera seria by George Frideric Handel. The libretto's author is unknown, but the plot is taken from Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando furioso, an epic poem set in the time of Charlemagne's wars against Islam...
",
Penelope in Monteverdi's "Il ritorno d'Ullise in Patria",
Nirone and
Poppea in Monterverdi's "
L'incoronazione di PoppeaL'incoronazione di Poppea is an opera seria in three acts by Claudio Monteverdi to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Francesco Busenello, based on historical incidents described in the Annals of Tacitus...
", and
Ariodante in "Ariodante". She has also performed and released several CDs of operatic and Lieder pieces from French composers.
In 2003 Kasarova collaborated with the Bulgarian composer Krassimir Kyurkchiyski to produce the CD 'Bulgarian Soul'. She sings with the
Cosmic Voices from Bulgaria and the Sofia Soloists Orchestra in this compilation of Bulgarian folk songs. "Many people don't know my native land. I would like them to discover the Bulgarian soul," the singer commented. She won the 2003
German ECHO Award for "Singer of the Year", the 2005
Merkur Preis and was elected
Bayerische Kammersängerin in the same year.
Her
recent roles (since 2006) include:
- "Agrippinia" in Handel
George Frideric Handel was a German-English Baroque composer, who is famous for his operas, oratorios, and concerti grossi. His life and music may justly be described as "cosmopolitan": he was born in Germany, trained in Italy, and spent most of his life in England...
's Agrippina
- "Angelina" in Rossini
Gioachino Antonio Rossini was a popular Italian composer who wrote 39 operas as well as sacred music and chamber music. His best known works include Il barbiere di Siviglia , La Cenerentola, La gazza ladra and Guillaume Tell...
's La Cenerentola
- "Ariodante" in Handel
George Frideric Handel was a German-English Baroque composer, who is famous for his operas, oratorios, and concerti grossi. His life and music may justly be described as "cosmopolitan": he was born in Germany, trained in Italy, and spent most of his life in England...
's Ariodante
- "Carmen" in Bizet's Carmen
- "Charlotte" in Massenet
Jules Massenet was a French composer best known for his operas. His compositions were very popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and he ranks as one of the greatest melodists of his era. Soon after his death, his style went out of fashion, and many of his operas fell into almost...
's Werther
- "Edoardo" in Rossini's Matilde di Shabran
- "Isabella" in Rossini's L'italiena in Algieri
- "Leonor" in Donizetti
Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. Donizetti's most famous work is Lucia di Lammermoor , and arguably his most immediately recognizable piece of music is the aria "Una furtiva lagrima" from L'elisir d'amore...
's La Favorite
- "Nirone" and "Poppea" in Monteverdi
Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi , was an Italian composer, gambist, and singer.Monteverdi's work, often regarded as revolutionary, marked the transition from the Renaissance style of music to that of the Baroque period...
's L'incoronazione di Poppea
- "Orphée" in the Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande Messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation...
version of Orphée et Eurydice by Gluck
- "Oktavian" in Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, particularly of operas, Lieder and tone poems...
's Der Rosenkavalier
- "Penelope" in Monteverdi's Il ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria
- "Romeo" in Bellini's I Capuleti e I Montecchi
- "Ruggiero" in Handel
George Frideric Handel was a German-English Baroque composer, who is famous for his operas, oratorios, and concerti grossi. His life and music may justly be described as "cosmopolitan": he was born in Germany, trained in Italy, and spent most of his life in England...
's AlcinaAlcina is an opera seria by George Frideric Handel. The libretto's author is unknown, but the plot is taken from Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando furioso, an epic poem set in the time of Charlemagne's wars against Islam...
- "Rosina" in Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia
- "Sesto" in Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as...
's La clemenza di Tito
- "Zayda" in Donizetti's Dom Sebastien
When asked what other roles she would do in the future she admits to the possibilities of Princess
EboliEboli is a town and comune of Campania, southern Italy, in the province of Salerno, on the south edge of the hills overlooking the valley of the Sele....
(in Verdi's
Don Carlo), which she is eager to sing while she still has sufficient coloratura agility for the 'Veil Song'. Kasarova sang her first "
CarmenCarmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
" at the Zurich Opera Festival in summer of 2008.
Mindful of the need to take care of her health, family and career, Kasarova takes great care in choosing her opera parts and limiting herself to a maximum of 50 performances per year.
Vesselina Kasarova, her husband, and their son live near
ZürichZürich or Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. The city is Switzerland's main commercial and cultural centre and sometimes called the Cultural Capital of Switzerland, the political capital of Switzerland being Berne...
, Switzerland where she regularly gives concerts and performs as a guest artist at the Opernhaus.
Recordings of operatic roles
- Tchaikovsky: Pique Dame (The Queen Of Spades) (1988) -- [audio CD] As a governess with Emil Tchakarov & Sofia Festival Orchestra
- Tchaikovsky: Pique Dame (1992) -- [VHS & audio CD] As Pauline with Ozawa & Vienna State Opera (she sings the Governess in the CD)
- Bellini: Beatrice di Tenda (1992) -- [audio CD] As Agnese with Pinchas Steinburg & Orf Symphony Orchestra
- Rossini: Tancredi (1996) --[audio CD] As Tancredi with Roberto Abbado & Munich Radio Orchestra
- Weber: Oberon
Oberon is a legendary king of the fairies.Oberon may also refer to:-People:* Merle Oberon , British actress* Oberon Zell-Ravenheart , Neopagan activist-Media and entertainment:* Oberon...
(1996) --[audio CD] As Fatime with Marek Janowski & Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
- Offenbach: La Belle Hélène (1997) -- [VHS & DVD] As Hélène with Nikolaus Harnoncourt & Zurich Opera (Note: VHS and DVD versions show performances from different dates.)
- Massenet: Werther
Werther is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann based on the German epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe....
(1999) --[Audio CD] As Charlotte with Vladimir Jurowski & Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
- Bellini: I Capuleti e i Montecchi (1999) --[Audio CD] As Romeo with R. Abbado & Munich Radio Orchestra
- Berlioz: The Damnation of Faust
La damnation de Faust is a work for orchestra, voices, and chorus written by Hector Berlioz ....
(1999) -- [DVD] As Marguerite with Sylvain Chambreling from the 1999 Salzburg Festival
- Rossini: The Barber of Seville
The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Cesare Sterbini...
(2001) -- [DVD] As Rosina with Nello SantiNello Santi is an Italian conductor. He is often called "Papa Santi" by his fellow musicians to show their high respect for his work.-Biography:...
and Zurich Opera
- Donizetti: La Favorite
La favorite is an opera in four acts by Gaetano Donizetti to a French libretto by Alphonse Royer and Gustave Vaëz, based on the play Le comte de Comminges by Baculard d'Arnaud...
(2001) --[Audio CD] As Leonor with Viotti & Munich Radio Orchestra
- Monteverdi: Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria (2003) -- [DVD] As Penelope with N. Harnoncourt & Zurich Opera
- Mozart: La clemenza di Tito (2003) --[DVD] As Sesto with Nikolaus Harnoncourt from the Salzburg Summer Festival (now part of the M22 project)
- Gluck: Orphée et Eurydice (2004) --[DVD] As Orphée with Ivor Bolton & Bavaria State Opera
- R. Strauß: Der Rosenkavalier (2005) --[DVD] As Oktavian with Franz Welser-Mōst & Zurich Opera
- Mozart" La clemenza di Tito (2005) --[DVD] As Sesto with Franz Welser-Mōst from Zurich Opera
- Mozart: La clemenza di Tito (2006) --[Doppel CD] As Sesto with Pinchas Steinburg & Munchner Rundfunkorchester
- Mozart: Mitridate, ré di Ponto (2006) --[Doppel CD] As Farnace with Sir Roger Norrington & Camerata Salzburg from the 1997 Salzburg Festival
- Rossini: La Cenerentola
La Cenerentola, ossia La bontà in trionfo is an operatic dramma giocoso in two acts by Gioachino Rossini. The libretto was written by Jacopo Ferretti, based on the fairy tale Cinderella...
(2006) --[Doppel CD] As Angelina with Carlo Rizzi & Munchner Rundfunkorchester
- Donizetti: Dom Sebastien
Dom Sébastien, Roi de Portugal is a French grand opera in five acts by Gaetano Donizetti. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe, based on Paul-Henri Foucher's play Dom Sébastian de Portugal , a historic-fiction about King Sebastian of Portugal and his ill-fated 1578 expedition to Morocco...
(March 2007) --[CD] As Zayda with Mark Elder & ROH Orchestra
- Händel: Alcina
Alcina is an opera seria by George Frideric Handel. The libretto's author is unknown, but the plot is taken from Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando furioso, an epic poem set in the time of Charlemagne's wars against Islam...
(September 2007) -- [SACD] As Ruggiero with Ivor Bolton from Bavarian State Opera
Other Recordings
(Vesselina Kasarova has an exclusive recording contract with RCA Red Seal Label)
- Hermann Suter Le laudi di San Francesco d’Assisi (1991) --[Audio CD] with Budapester Sinfoniker Chor and Kinderchor des Ungarischen Rundfunks Budapest
- Wir Schwestern Zwei, Wir Schönen --[Audio CD] lieder duets with Edita Gruberova including the famous Rossini's Katzen-Duett (Duetto buffo di due gatti)
- Berlioz, Ravel, Chausson (1994) --[Audio CD] song cycles with Pinchas Steinberg and the ORF Symphonieorchester (This recording won the Prix Maurice Ravel award)
- A Portrait (1996) --[Audio CD] with Friedrich Haider and the Munchner Rundfunkorchester. Arias from Handel
George Frideric Handel was a German-English Baroque composer, who is famous for his operas, oratorios, and concerti grossi. His life and music may justly be described as "cosmopolitan": he was born in Germany, trained in Italy, and spent most of his life in England...
's Rinaldo, GluckChristoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck was an opera composer of the early classical period. After many years at the Habsburg court at Vienna, Gluck brought about the practical reform of opera's dramaturgical practices that many intellectuals had been campaigning for over the years...
's Orfeo ed Euridice, MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as...
's Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni, RossiniGioachino Antonio Rossini was a popular Italian composer who wrote 39 operas as well as sacred music and chamber music. His best known works include Il barbiere di Siviglia , La Cenerentola, La gazza ladra and Guillaume Tell...
's Il barbiere di Siviglia and L'italiana in Algeri, DonizettiDomenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. Donizetti's most famous work is Lucia di Lammermoor , and arguably his most immediately recognizable piece of music is the aria "Una furtiva lagrima" from L'elisir d'amore...
's Anna Bolena and La favorita, and BelliniVincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer. His most famous works are La Sonnambula and Norma...
's I Capuleti e i Montecchi.
- Franz Schubert: Mass No. 6 in E-Major (1997) --[Audio CD] with Riccardo Muti & Wiener Philharmoniker and Chor des Mitteldeutschen Rundfunks, Leipzig
- Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 8 in E-Major "Sinfonie der Tausend" (1997) --[Audio CD] with Sir Colin Davis & Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
- Mozart Arias (1997) --[Audio CD] with Sir Colin Davis
Sir Colin Rex Davis, CH, CBE is an English conductor.-Career:Davis studied the clarinet at the Royal College of Music in London, where he was barred from taking conducting lessons owing to his lack of ability at the piano...
and the Staatskapelle Dresden. Arias from Cosi fan tutte, Le nozze di Figaro, Idomeneo, Mitridate, Don Giovanni, Lucio Silla, and La clemenza di Tito. This recording was nominated for the Grammy Award
- Schubert, Brahms, Schumann: Lieder (1999) [Audio CD] with Friedrich Haider
- Rossini: Arias and Duets (2000) [Audio CD] with Juan Diego Florez and Arthur Fagen & Musikalische Leitung. This record won the 2000 Cannes Classical Awards for Songs and Vocal Recitals 19/20 Century.
- Nuit Resplendissante (2001) [Audio CD] Rarely heard French opera arias with Frédéric Chaslin & Münchner Rundfunkorchester
- Love Entranced: French Opera Arias (2002) [Audio CD] with Frédéric Chaslin and the Munich Radio Orchestra.
- Bulgarian Soul: Kyurkchiyski (2003) [Audio CD] with Cosmic Voices from Bulgaria under Vania Moneva, and the Sofia Soloists Chamber Orchestra under Tzanko Delibozov singing traditional Bulgarian folk songs. This recording was nominated for the German ECHO Klassik award (Classics Without Frontier)
- Berlin Opera Night (2004) --[DVD & audio CD] Sings Charlotte's letter scene from Werther as part of the benefit concert to raise fund for AIDS research. CD under title Gala Night
- The Magic of Kasarova (2004) [Audio CD] compilation of arias from her acclaimed roles including tracks from live performances from the 2003 Munich production of Orphée et Eurydice and the 1999 Salzburger Festspiele production of La damnation de Faust.
- Belle Nuit (2008) [Audio CD] with Ulf Schirmer and the Munich Radio Orchestra. Live recording of a concert at Philharmonie am Gastieg of Offenbach operetta arias.
- Sento Brillar (July 2008) [Audio CD] with Alan Curtis and Il Complesso Barocco. Studio recording of Handel opera arias that were written for Carestini.
- Passionate Arias (May 2009) [Audio CD] with Giuliani Carrera and Munich Radio Orchestra. Studio recordings of compilation of dramatic mezzo-soprano arias.
TV Documentary
- Vesselina Kasarova: Ein Portrait: Mozart ist ohne Ende (BMG Classic & Saarländischer Rundfunk) From 1997 interview with clips from Idomeneo in Florence, I Capuleti e i Montecchi in Paris, recording session of her Mozart Arias CD in Dresden
- Tell Me, Little White Cloud (Arte-TV) Making of Bulgarian Soul CD with the Cosmic Voices from Bulgaria Female Choir
- Vesselina Kasarova: Die Kunst der Verwandlung (ORF) 2005 documentary of her career.
External links
Quotes
- " Rossini invites the singer to use imagination but that is not the same as showing off." -(Feb 1997 interview with Neil Evans for ClassicCD)
- "I don’t just want to show off my high notes! You must have colors in singing. If you sing normally all the time, it sounds nice, but it says nothing."
- "Singing must come from the heart and brain together, and it must come automatically. If you have to make emotion, think about it, it’s not pure. Music is emotion, and it’s never the same; the dress rehearsal may be one way, and the opening night another. When you sing well, the way you feel comes out in the voice." -(Oct 1997 interview with Bryan Miller for the Chicago Tribune)
- "At that moment I’m not interested in whether audiences like me or the director likes me or whether my performance is vocally brilliant. All I’m trying to be is sincerely within the body of the character, to use body language – arms, hands, my whole body – to convey it as well as I humanly can. And to use a wide range of colours to get across as honestly as I’m able the true, often conflicting, character of the role I’m singing. You could say my colour is my sincerity." -(Jan 2000 interview with Roderic Dunnett for 'The Independent'.)
- "On stage I want to go a long way away from what I am. On stage I want to say exactly what I mean, and be what I'd like to be. There I don't ask questions, as I do in life, when I worry about things. There, on stage, I'm much more at home." - (Nov 2000 interview with Antony Peattie for Opera Now)
- "Communicating with people through music, while conveying further (and not necessarily coincident) meaning with one's body language — that's what opera is essentially about." -(Jul 2002 interview with Carlo Vitali for Andante Magazine)
- "I'm always trying to learn from Edita (Gruberova). One important lesson I learned from her is that dramatic singing doesn't mean loud and fast; rather, it comes out through expression and variety of colors. In the first place, she asks any conductor to have the orchestra play piano whenever possible, so that meaningful crescendos can be obtained at the right moments." - (Jul 2002 interview with Carlo Vitali for Andante Magazine)
- "For me, the appeal of these works (French repertoire) is that you can use all the different colours in them. That's why I love singing French opera. It's true that I had to work very hard indeed on these roles, particularly on the language itself. French possesses a unique elegance not found in any other language. It's not only a question of the diction, but also of the appropriate colour. What I say and how I sing must go together. It's just a wonderful experience to work on these parts, and I wish the opera houses would put on more productions of French operas with big mezzo roles. They contain a great deal of sensuality and emotion, but are always subtle, there is nothing brutal about them." -(2004 interview with Marianne Zelger-Vogt in the booklet from her CD 'The Magic of Kasarova')
- "When you sing, you have the text of course, but I think you shouldn't count on that, because sometimes the words are repetitive or don't make sense. The voice alone should tell the story and arouse the emotion, just like an instrument" -(2004 interview with Cristina Necula for the 'Classical Singer Magazine')
- "I can live fine with the fact that I'm only seconda donna in an opera. Rather a good seconda donna than a bad prima donna." -(2005 interview with Werner Pfister & Andrea Meuli. She was asked why she wouldn't move up to sing as soprano instead of mezzo like some other colleagues do)
- "It’s been nearly 20 years since I came to the West from Bulgaria, and I still remember how very surprised I was that everything was not so perfect or as honest and free here as I thought it would be. I enjoyed excellent training in Bulgaria. I know what discipline is, because I grew up in the environment of constant fear due to communism. I can hold myself together very well when the going gets rough. And I have learnt more life experience from music than from others. The music is holy. It is always good for the soul. That is all that matters for me. When I sing, I steal from no one, I do not cause others pain. I make nobody ill. The music speaks of our sensitivity, of things, which cannot be said with words. Singing is like wines." - (2007 interview with Christine Lemke Matwey for the German magazine 'Die Zeit', issue Nr. 29)