Anna Netrebko

“I prefer department stores. In boutiques, they come up and ask you if you need help. I can't get lost in the experience.”

“You will not see me dressed in plain, modest outfits.”

“You should not starve yourself with stupid diets, which I don't believe in anyway.”

“I am still working on developing my voice. I am, I know, better as a coloratura singer than I was. It's a matter of strong breath control and yet making it sound as though it is the easiest thing in the world.”

“If you ask me about vocal technique, I don't know anything. I could never be a teacher. I just know what my teacher told me: 'Always sing with a full voice. When they tell you, less sound, more piano - no.'”

“For me, St. Petersburg is the city that I can never escape because it has this special energy, even a dark energy. It keeps pulling me back.”

“Life is not just about singing.”

“Maybe because I'm a nice and sweet person in life, I like the darker roles. The really dark one is Lady Macbeth.”

“I prefer it when the conductor follows me. It is more difficult to work with a conductor who does not listen - even if I understand that sometimes it makes sense when one person is ruling everything. But for bel canto, I have to have a conductor who listens and supports me.”

“I know what I want, and I know what needs to be done to make my performance better. So I do these little askings, about the lights and costumes. It's not the diva speaking. It's the artist who knows how it has to be done.”

“I have no desire to become a crossover artiste, singing with microphones. I believe in opera; that it is something that young people would love if they had a chance to hear it.”