Quotations

On singing technique

"What's typical of me is that I sing the way I talk. My singing technique is not visible. Maybe because God has given me plenty of voice. I must be very ill to try to do thousands of things. I always try to sing so as the technique doesn't show - that's the best technique. When I started building a repertoire, I must have had little technique and a lot of intuition. I think it all comes with the years. I still have students who do something the moment you show them and then forget it. And there are others, who can't do it immediately, but in 2 days' time it comes back to them and they do it. Everyone's brain works differently and prints differently. It's much better for a heavy voice to learn technique than for a light voice, in order to be able to grow lighter. In this way, the voice endures much longer and, respectively, the artist's stage life is much longer."

On ordinary people

“I’m quite shocked and embarrassed by the term “ordinary people” because of the mere thought of it. I consider all people ordinary, including myself. And mostly myself, as otherwise you couldn’t possibly live. I’m truly embarrassed when journalists ask me: from up there, from the stars, what do things down here look like. Well, I haven’t been there, I’ve been successful, but somehow I don’t see myself as a star. I’m with you all the time. Maybe stardom is just in people’s imagination, but we are absolutely normal people. Maybe we just have different concerns."

On singing

“In my life, I’ve progressed step by step and everything I’ve learned has been paid for, I haven’t invented anything. I find out things about myself and then I find them in the books. They are just repeated. All that is written about singing, and that’s quite a lot, if you apply it and if you can, you will become the greatest singer.”

On the everyday life of a singer

“People often tell me: your life is interesting and different from ours, you travel all the time, you sing all the time…." Actually, it’s a monotonous variety – the same things all the time: you travel, go to a hotel, unpack your clothes, then have a rehearsal, meet new people, struggle to build good work relationships for a short time, to smooth out the contradictions – both language barrier and interpretation of characters. And you have one week to get something complete, then you sing 3 or 4 performances before moving on to the next place. And this goes on for years and years.”

On the difficulties in the job

“In my job the difficulties outnumber the happy moments. This is what the famous singer Simionato once told me: “I’ve spent my life in trains, planes, hotels, stages…” My life is the same. In each theatre I leave a piece of myself behind – at the end of the performance, when the audience is clapping and shouting Bravo, I can’t even feel really happy for what I’ve achieved. Depressed as a result of the nervous tension, I can’t enjoy the good moments; I just have a feeling of fulfilled duty. And at night, it takes me a long time to go to sleep… All I have left is the hundreds of kind letters, but unfortunately, despite my greatest desire, I have no time to answer them.”

On journalists

“In all this hustle and bustle you have to keep a high level and be healthy despite the air conditioning, to keep smiling and always be available to journalists. The theatre managers ask you to participate in the performance advertising campaign. And you have to do it because you get paid and you always have to “happily smile back at bad fate". You accept this as a stage performance, as if you follow director's instructions. And when one day you say that you can't get up and grab the suitcases and you can't meet journalists, they immediately conclude: yeah, stars are capricious!"

On the life of an artist

"The life of an artist is very difficult. It slips through your fingers like sand and when fate strikes you, just like it did to me, you turn back and see that everything compresses into an instant and you're left alone, with nothing left from your own life and from what you call career, it's gone..."

On opera

"Opera is no longer an elite art, but it takes a lot of money to do it. Most spectators come because of their love for what keeps the soul like a spiral, the thing that will never fade away, as truth never fades away. It's true art. Chalga will fade away, lots of short-lived things that are easy to perceive will be forgotten, but classical music will stay forever."

On the job

"Our job is nothing but hard work. The glamour is transient. From down there, people see us bathed in light, wearing gorgeous clothes, but what we actually feel is just the fear of forgetting the lyrics, of whether you're in the right place, of whether you'll sing the right note and keep up with the conductor. You just look at the prompter, hidden in the box, and the conductor. You cannot think: "Oh, look how people enjoy my performance, how great I am!"

On the world

"Having travelled around the world for many years, you not only become a global citizen, but also feel no nostalgia for any place. Wherever I lay my hat, I feel good... and I feel bad."

On life

"We are made of stardust and we turn back to dust when the soul is gone."

On stage

"Even to this day, for me, the stage is the only place where I've felt comfortable and happy. I feel good on any stage. Before a performance, I've often felt like a student before an exam, who doesn't know what the questions will be. But the moment I get on stage, I'm guided by the experience gained over the years. Later on, when I listen to the recording, I ask myself: did I sing this? The artist must beat the stage fright in the theatre, in a performance. Appearing in front of an audience is the necessary risk that brings success. Otherwise, even the greatest talent may remain unnoticed or underrated."

On music

"To make their career longer, artists have to think about nothing but music. I could live without my career, but never without music."

On the fear of failure

"Thank God, I've never felt it. However, if I feel that my voice is out of shape, failure is certain. But one note out of tune during a performance doesn't mean failure. It's like an icicle falling down - as unpredictable as that. We've all had such experiences, but Maria Callas was often booed for that, because she was turned into a myth. In general, a great career, a great voice presupposes a "great" broken tone. No one is interested in mediocre singers, no matter what happens to them. Everyone aims at the top names, they are the ones that get crucified and knocked off their pedestal."

On the hand of God

"When I feel that my body, voice and momentary condition are synchronized, I say to myself that the hand of God is on me. God is in us, He gives us strength. God is the faith in yourself, in your own abilities. God is nature."

On fatigue

"When you create something, the most important thing is to be relaxed. If I'm tired, I can't stand my characters, because I feel tortured by them and overburdened, too. Fatigue makes artists hate their work..."

On partners

"Bad-mannered people are rare. One has to be very nervous to not know his part, so you can't expect anything from him - you leave him alone because he's nervous on stage. Our colleagues are generally very good-mannered, they rarely quarrel and working with them is a pleasure. When there's a problem with a colleague, the director takes care, we don't deal with such things. Sometimes your colleague is a very talented singer, but an extremely difficult partner. He shows no consideration for his fellow singers, just because he's entirely selfish. Such attitude is quite embarrassing on stage - being treated as a person, but not as a partner."

On meeting the audience

"I don't like being decorative in such places. We are decorative enough on stage."

On Bulgaria and Bulgarians

"I'm Bulgarian, I can't be anything else. I've learnt to live everywhere, but especially after Zhoro's death, I feel uncomfortable, no matter the place. Both here and there; so I try to keep travelling and singing as much as possible. There was a movie about the Italian mafia and Domenico Modugno had composed a very nice song for it. The film started with this song - a very sad one, with even sadder lyrics - "Bitter land of mine". I'll keep on repeating it, hoping, God willing, that we will thrive. What I don't like about my people is that we lack moderation. We swing from one extreme to the other. We need common sense and moderation."

On the three most important things in life

"I couldn't possibly live without my family, without my friends and without music, generally speaking. Everyone moves forward and I could live without my career, but never without music."

On friendship

"Friendship is a pillar of strength you can't live without. It's the trust in the other person. I don't have a lot of friends, only a few selected ones. These are the people who love me, trust me, help me and expect nothing in return. I love this kind of friendship - friends who are tolerant rather than ones who want to control you and expect you to think and live the way they do. The kind of friendship that gives you freedom."

On art

"I've still got a long way to climb and I'll hardly ever reach the accomplished professionals. I don't know if there is an accomplished professional. Art is a never-ending path and you're great at one thing and small at another."

On modern life

"We often misunderstand modern life. We tend to cultivate the old complexes and develop new ones. To me, modern life means being tolerant and kind-hearted. Being free of prejudice and working hard."

On Maria Callas

"It's impossible to learn from her - she's a phenomenon that can't be copied. Maybe Maria Callas was so great because she worked so hard. Such an extraordinary singing career, from the age of 16 to 38, is a whole era that maybe no one will ever be able to repeat."

On Renata Tebaldi

"You can learn from Tebaldi. She has an extraordinarily beautiful voice, but she's been learning all her life. Toscanini himself wrote signs and letters all over her scores, indicating what to do at each point. It's great schooling and if you're lucky enough to be with her, if you understand what she does, then, indeed, you can learn."

On the greatest opera singers

"Personally, I like best Renata Tebaldi and Maria Callas, the first one because of her perfect vocal instrument and the second one because of her interpretation talent. I can't say I've modelled myself on them, as the word model has now become quite a flexible term. But one thing is true - the "vocal model" is and will be in constant evolution. Also, I like a lot Mirella Freni, Raina Kabaivanska, Montserrat Caballé..."

On the artist's path

"My path as an artist has not been an easy one. First of all, because nature has given me a great voice and, as Maestro Brumbarov used to say, such a voice needs to be maintained all life and is much harder to master than a weaker voice. It's endless work every day, because voice is a machine maintained by breath, so unless you work every day, nothing can be done. In a day or two, it loses the softness of phrase and the high range. It takes a huge effort to maintain your voice. I had a great career when I was 35-40 years old, but the most prestigious theatres came after the age of 42. However, I had already performed my prestigious dramatic roles, even better, in other theatres."

On the competitive world of opera

"Those who haven't worked in the opera, they don't know what frantic competition is like. Because if I stop for two months, my place will immediately be taken by another singer. It's like a chain dance. You have to dance till you fall down; if you get out for a minute, you have to go back in as soon as possible. The competition is fierce and I think that very few people can stand the pace. Sometimes I look at my calendar and say to myself: is this me, am I the one who can stand the pace and all the strain?"

On singing

"Italians say that singing is based upon word and breath. It means that when you relax your throat, your mouth can articulate any kind of text, expressing joy, love, anger, contempt or command. A singer must learn this by the age of 27-28."

On the aria centre

"Each phrase has a centre, and each aria has only one peak. This is what we should constantly aim at, in order to avoid monotony. An opera part is supposed to take 1-3 months to prepare, depending on how different singers learn it, on their capabilities and technique levels. But in practice, this is hardly feasible."

On performances

"In the western world, competition is fierce - you have to sing in 50-60 performances per year. Unless you do it, you're not in the circle. The moment you're out of the circle, people start talking that you're sick, that you're gone, that you can't sing, that you have problems. Rumours start immediately. In Milan, there's a whole bunch of singers who are trying to get a job. And gossiping is what they do for a living."

On the tastes in art

"In art, tastes are constantly changing. At every single moment, the way we feel and recreate things is different. This is how I want to destroy the rules that have piled up over time. I want to break the frames in order to bring art closer to people. No matter where - in a super production or an opera performance. Or a show."

On dramatic coloratura

"There are dramatic sopranos who lack this technique. I don’t think I learned it at the Music Academy, because it's something that can't be acquired, especially with dramatic voices. It’s innate and I’ve taken it from folk songs. Our folk songs are based on this principle. However, my register is much higher, so it was much easier for me to sing like this. When I was in Prof. Brumbarov’s class, he would always give me long and slow dramatic soprano warm-up exercises. When I went to La Scala Academy, the directress and the vocal coach, who taught me twice a week, told me: "You have a very good vocal projection; we needn't "mess" with your voice. We could add a little more technique. You've learned from a great teacher and if we "mess" with your voice, the result will be a coat turned inside out; so it will be useless". That woman, who had been a coloratura soprano, first gave me coloratura exercises and I had no difficulty whatsoever singing them. Also, there were other specialists, such as Maestro Pastorino, who was my tutor, and Gina Cigna, whom I had visited even before the La Scala Academy, who said my voice was a dramatic coloratura soprano.”

On the repertoire at the beginning of my career

"The problem I faced at first was that I had a lot of specialists around me who immediately wanted me to build a repertoire. "Madam, you need to have a repertoire, because there are very few voices like yours." Even now (1979), you can count us on the fingers of your hand - we are only 4 or 5 in the world. I had no repertoire - just Nabucco, Il Trovatore and La Forza del Destino. That was nothing.”

On répétiteurs

"When I started working with Maestro Pastorino, he would tell me: "You can't bring out this tone, because the lower one is not supported, because it's not sung in this position, it's not on "o" or "e". Maestro Pastorino was an extraordinary pianist and a post-partiti tutor (in Italy this is a répétiteur who teaches the part according to all the classical requirements and with everything you need to hear from the maestro himself)." Ballo in Maschera, when I was in Argentina in August 1974. I was just about to leave for Bulgaria to prepare for it (I had taken 50 days to prepare the role because it's very difficult musically).”

On implicit memory

"There is one thing that has been a problem throughout my entire career. I don't have a good implicit memory; I didn't have it even as a child. I can remember facts and stories from many years ago or tell events in a sequence. But I've never had a good implicit memory, which really torments me. And the operas that I learned about 10 years ago, such as Nabucco, they don't come back to me immediately. So I have to work hard and learn all the time."

On the number of performances per month

"The standard number of performances per month should not exceed 5, provided that they are evenly distributed and include only one title, or two at the most. But it's never like this. I've had to sing Tosca in Vienna on Tuesday, on Wednesday I come back to Sofia and sing Nabucco, then Aida on Friday, then Il Trovatore, then Tosca again, and on Saturday - Don Carlos. And all this within less than a week. Such a rhythm just kills the artist. You get exhausted, your voice gets exhausted and your nervous system gets exhausted, especially when you sing on different stages. You have to think about where things are and where people are. With such a tight schedule (1979), if I can sing for 5 more years, we'll be jumping for joy!"

On risk-taking in art

"Risk-taking in art is very much needed as it sometimes brings success. If you don't take a risk, nobody notices you. Also, risk-taking is a form of exhibitionism, which is very important in our job. An important feature of talented artists is the ability to demonstrate their talent. Singers need exhibitionism and risk-taking. We must always be forward bound and try not to step back. We must always be in the spotlight - even in a bad light, when we get confused or when we are not at our best. But this demonstrates one feature - the courage to be in the spotlight."

On perfection in art

"It's wrong to think that everything must be perfect. Remember, there's no such thing as perfect. The moment we say that something is perfect, we put a limit on it. Therefore, we can't progress."

On criticism

"Many times I've spoken to critics and when they ask me a question, I reply with a question. They know nothing whatsoever, they have no music vocabulary, no music terminology, and they know nothing about the operas. A critic once asked me: "Tell me something about Turandot". And, without asking her any questions, I started telling: "After Liù's death, Puccini died, too, and Alfano continued..." And she said: "Oh, really? That's very interesting...." I replied: "Wait a minute, who am I talking to?" The way critics write their reviews shows how much they know and how much they are worth.”

On success

"It's important to arrive at your goal, not when or at what age. Some arrive at a younger age, then burn out and it hurts a lot. I'm very happy with my achievements, with my career. Never in my life has success been complete. Even at my greatest triumphs, the reviews have never been unanimous. There has always been someone to dislike me. When you're a public figure, a politician or an artist, you can't always please everyone. You don't have to be perfect. You need the love of two thirds of the audience and the support of two thirds of the people.”

On self-confidence

“Both lack and excess of self-confidence are dangerous. A lack of confidence stops you from showing your talent and having too much confidence stops you from making progress. One has to develop perfect self-control and find balance.”

Vocal or artistic perfection?

“Vocal after all, although they go together. Artistic perfection can often compensate for vocal perfection. However, artistic perfection is worthless without the vocal one.”

On studio recordings

“Studio recordings are something good, but I think they’re somewhat sterile. They lack the atmosphere of the direct contact and that can be felt, no matter how perfect the singing is.”

On directors

“We learned a lot from Margarete Wallmann, who was working in the Buenos Aires Opera. When she works with you, she develops the character you play. Directors no longer work like this, or at least they do very rarely, the way Pokrovsky and the Ruassian directors used to work: get to the bottom of the character and “plant” it inside you. Nowadays, all they want from you is just to learn the role and act like the character, but this doesn’t happen by itself, especially with beginner singers.”

On tenors

"I've sung with the most beautiful tenor voices in the world and working with them has been a pleasure. Many singers want to know their partner's name in advance. But this has never been important to me.”

On conductors

"Some people think that singing under a great conductor is highly prestigious. However, I've learned more from less eminent conductors, who work intensively with singers and encourage them. Some eminent conductors want you to be well prepared. Others, less eminent ones, like Guadagno or Maestro Patanè for example, are well familiar with the Italian tradition. Modern conductors are extremely busy, they have a lot of performances, so they want you to be well prepared, to be familiar with all traditions. This is very difficult for young singers. That's why I prefer conductors who works better with singers. In my life, I've learned best from conductors who can sing. For example, Maestro Misho Angelov shows the phrase by singing it. If he had gone to Germany, he could have had a singing career, as you needn't have a great voice to sing there. The other conductor I've learned a lot from is Maestro Daniel Oren, who has a very well-trained voice."

On teachers

"As I look back on my life, I realize that even from an early age I've always been lucky to have great teachers and meet great people; both in my village, where I used to sing in the choir, and at university. At the Music Academy, I was extremely happy to be taught by Maestro Brumbarov and all the other teachers there. Later on, when Mikhail Angelov came back from Leningrad (St Petersburg) and from Naples, I asked him about everything I'd been taught. I've learned from those conductors who had also learned before that in order to become great. They've given me everything they know and I haven't forgotten anything ever since the day I started learning."