Facts
I can’t live without:
Chocolate.
Most comical thing that happened to me onstage:
In one opera, I had to slap my stage lover on the cheek, and I was so worried about hurting him that every night I managed to miss his cheek but ended up hitting him on the eye, the nose, the throat or the ear.
I can’t go onstage without:
Contact lenses!
If I hadn’t been a singer, I’d have been:
An anthropologist.
My weakness is:
The need to order things that are disorderly.
Ideal night off:
A mother of a two-year-old doesn’t get a night off. But I love to curl up on the couch with a good book, a cup of tea, maybe a movie.
All-time favourite musician:
Ella Fitzgerald.
Favourite composer to sing:
Mostly, I love to sing whatever I’m working on at the moment. But these days, I’d say Manuel de Falla, George Gershwin and Irving Berlin.
Favourite composer to listen to:
I don’t have a favourite, but I listen to a lot of jazz.
The thing I’m most looking forward to:
Singing Blanche in Poulenc’s Les Dialogues des Carmélites.
Favourite colour:
Blue.
My idea of happiness:
Love, laughter and fun times with family and friends.
Quality I like most in others:
Kindness and honesty.
Quality I like most in myself:
I love people.
Favourite drink:
Water.
Present state of mind:
Sleepy.
Occasion on which I lie:
I haven’t actually started doing it, but I’ve started thinking about lying on my birthday.
My most treasured possession:
My passport.
The greatest love of my life:
Chocolate.
I would most like to live in:
A loft on the Upper West Side of Manhattan (which, of course, doesn’t exist!).
My greatest fear:
Spiders.
My favourite journey:
The walk to the fridge in the morning.
Word or phrase I overuse:
Sheesh!!!! Geeeeeezzz!
Talent I would most like to have:
To be a super ninja.
My favourite fragrance:
Linden trees in the spring, lavender, orange peel.
Person I’d call if I wanted to laugh:
My friend, Nic, whom I’ve known since my undergrad. He’s got a wicked sense of humour.