Susan Graham talks to Joseph So @ LSM

There is a fantastic interview by Joseph So of La Scena Musicale with Susan Graham discussing her upcoming role at the COC in Iphegenie en Tauride.  My favourite part of the interview follows:

LSM: You have such a wide-ranging repertoire - baroque, classical romantic, 20th century, contemporary. When you go from one fach to another, how do you deal with the different vocal demands?

SG: I try to keep it simple. I've always maintained that good singing is good singing - one doesn't necessarily changes one's technique. That being said, I recently just did the grandmother of baroque opera, L'incoronazione di Poppea in Florence. I realized that in a small setting with a small orchestra, it's very intimate and one can alter the volume and colour of the voice. It's very different from singing 'Presentation of the Rose' or some big Wagnerian scene where you have to pump out a lot of power - sometimes it's not always about power! Nevertheless, the singing remains the same. For me, equally important as vocal technique is the very clear expression of the music, so whether I am singing the seductive future empress Poppea or Cherubino or Iphigenie, I still want to express clearly through the colours of my voice and the text which each character's emotions are.

Read the rest of the interview here.