Why DID YOU MOVE TO VENICE?
I was getting more
operatic roles in Europe.
HAS IT BEEN GOOD FOR YOUR CAREER?
I’m not in the
big time yet, but I work steadily in prominent places. I sang in
Madama Butterfly at Teatro La Fenice and just sang a second
time at Carnegie Hall after making my debut there in the
Poulenc Gloria and the Bach Magnificat.
HOW DOES LIFE IN VENICE COMPARE TO LIFE IN
BERNARDSVILLE, NEW JERSEY?
In New Jersey, you go
everywhere in your car. I would run errands all day and speak
to no one. In Venice, where there are no cars, it takes forty five minutes to walk to the corner grocery store because I’m always bumping into people I know and chatting.
Italy is the birthplace of opera. Everyone grew up with their father or grandfather playing old Caruso records. Even the smallest towns have their own opera houses. At the Fenice, the dress rehearsals are always open to schoolchildren, and I have many friends who discovered opera that way.
DO FRIENDS AND FAMILY FROM THE UNITED STATES COME TO VISIT YOU?
We've been inundated. My parents always snubbed Venice; now they love it. We take them in our rowboat through the back "streets" where the tourist gondolas aren't allowed. If you want to see real Venetian life, wander into a small neighborhood in Cannaregio or Castello.
DO AMERICANS HAVE MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT ITALIANS?
In general, Americans think that Italians spend all day drinking coffee and driving around on scooters; that things don't work; that the post office is slow; that medical care is shoddy. It's absolutely not true; Venice is incredibly efficient. In Rome, maybe things are a bit slower.
WHAT'S THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU'VE LEARNED FROM LIVING IN VENICE?
Venetians think life is meant to be lived. For example, food is meant to be enjoyed for the whole experience—the walk to the store, the shopping, the walk home, the cooking—as well as the eating. Talking to my neighbor about how to cook asparagus has become as important to me as studying an aria.
