Following a six-year stint in Fest contracts with three different European opera houses, German soprano Diana Damrau is quickly making a name for herself on U.S. operatic stages, especially as a master interpreter of the Strauss and Mozart repertoire. Classical Singer caught up with her last spring while Damrau was in New York for the Met’s March 2007 production of Strauss’s Die Äegyptische Helena. Damrau shares some tips for learning difficult Straussian lines. She also discusses how working in a small German house prepared her for a major career—and how she managed to make a spectacular Weill Recital debut while fighting a cold.
Lisa Popeil studied classically for many years, until she determined to learn how her favorite singers were making the sounds she was hearing on the radio. After years of carefully observing how her body was working to successfully mimic those sounds, Lisa now teaches other singers to healthily explore the vocal colors possible in a variety of genres. Discover a few of her techniques in this interview with Classical Singer’s Marka Knight.
The following musicological analysis is for help in interpreting roles on a deeper level or even could be used to stage a recital with singers doing the arias back-to-back
