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. Its not the diva speaking. Its the artist who knows how it has to be done.

Lots of opera singers are just boring.

Im just a normal person. Its not like I come home and think about opera. My thoughts are about completely other things. Shoes! Dresses! Expensive ones: with a pretty silhouette, beautiful fabrics.

When I started, my teachers told me that I had to sing Mozart, Mozart, Mozart. I said, No, I want to sing all the other stuff. If you do not push yourself, you will stay the same. Maybe some singers are happy with that, but I have to move, I have to do something new always.

I have an intuition, and usually my intuition is right. I have a feeling for whether a role will be good or bad for me, and I almost never make a mistake.

Maybe because Im 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.

Russians always need a little sh*t in our lives. If everything is good and we seem completely happy, then we become suspicious of that.