“They tell me that I need to urgently take up my memoirs”

The New York Metropolitan Opera has resumed Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, staged by Graham Vick. A Moscow opera singer was invited to the main part in one of the main Russian operas of the 20th century. Soloist of “Helikon-Opera” Svetlana Creator on the eve of the premiere of the renewal told Vladimir Dudin about the reception on the American stage, about the Russian language of foreign soloists and about how relevant Leskov’s Katerina Izmailova is now.

How did you first get to New York? Now the performance of the Russian opera artist at the Metropolitan looks like some kind of phantasmagoria.

– Yes, that is right. But I had to endure two very difficult weeks of preparation for departure. I just turned off my nerves. Everyone can imagine the effort it takes today to obtain a US visa. Halfway through the world, I ended up in Warsaw, where, with the help of a senator from the state of New York, they knocked out an urgent visa for me. To say that I was received well is to say nothing: everything was done for this. To be honest, I felt like I was in a fairy tale. I will never forget the moment when I was walking around Warsaw and got a call from the embassy: “Your visa is ready”. At my own peril and risk, not yet having a visa, I bought a plane ticket, knowing full well that the American embassy advises not to buy a ticket until you get a visa. But I had some kind of mystical certainty that I would still end up in New York last Saturday. As a result, a visa was issued, on Saturday I actually flew to New York, where the next morning I sang the entire opera at a rehearsal, and, obviously, well, because I had not yet had time to suffer from jet lag. Conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson said she had never heard a better Katerina. I replied: “Better not!”

– A good plot for a memoir.

– Exactly! When relatives hear this story of mine, they say that we urgently need to take up memoirs. But my whole life is like that. I remember the moment when the proposal for a contract at the Metropolitan with Prokofiev’s “Fiery Angel” was first received, which, unfortunately, did not take place due to the pandemic. I was sitting in the garden, weeding beets, when the agent called and invited me. Well, very good, great, what can I say. I believe that it is necessary to follow fate, there is no need to force anything. Do only what you must. I believe in it.

How were you received at the Metropolitan Opera?

– Amazing kindness. After the first rehearsal, I felt at home, it was calm and comfortable. The theater management thanked me for the fact that I was able to rebuild my life in such a way for the sake of coming to them: “We are happy that you are with us.” In addition, very professionalism in everything and everyone. I love working in an atmosphere where people are only busy with creativity, not gossip, I love real work. I was amazed by the amazing Russian language of the American soloists, the quality of the voices. Here it is customary to praise each other, while all comments are heard absolutely calmly.

— On your account there are many different staged versions of this opera by Shostakovich. Does the Graham Vick version give any radical angle to your favorite role?

— Yes, I really had many productions of this opera. Here the line of my heroine for me is rather “crumpled”. I used to have moments of surprise, for example, in Renata in Fiery Angel, when the director or conductor suggested something to me – and I understood that something could really be changed here. In this production, everything turned out to be quite traditional for me: suppression, boredom, domestic tyranny. When I first watched this performance on video, I got the impression of a “light” version. I happened to participate in much tougher productions. For example, in the production of the German director of Turkish origin Imme Karaman in Klagenfurt, Austria, the emphasis was on domestic violence, very modern, and the acting was very subtle, with a psychological elaboration of every detail. I went through the whole hell of Katerina’s life, passing through myself, it was hard.

– But did they ask you about something at rehearsals?

– When I first talked online with the director, resuming the performance, she immediately said that she was giving me carte blanche in the line of my heroine, and allowed me to play the way I want and feel. I believe that this is also an effective way, because if I love and feel my heroine, I don’t need to tell anything extra how to “do” her. I remember when I was preparing Brünnhilde in Valkyrie with Vladimir Yurovsky for my debut in London, I got so into all the relationships that the director said: “Svetlana, I see you are in the material, you are just Brünnhilde. Do as you feel.” For me, this is always the most valuable thing.

How do you feel next to your American colleagues?

– Tenor Brandon Jovanovich is an excellent professional, he sings beautifully in Russian, a wonderful partner, he will always ask if everything suits me. Canadian bass John Relay makes his debut as Boris Timofeevich, and he also has a delightful Russian. It is felt that he is still looking for something in the role itself, but he sings music and lyrics in such a way that you think that a Russian singer is singing. He told me that he was familiar with the Russian repertoire, he sang Boris, Gremin. All this causes great respect, of course.

– On the one hand, there is a lot of surprise, on the other hand, it is logical that this opera, with its protest against the suppression of the individual, was chosen right now. Every time I listen to it at the Mariinsky Theater conducted by Valery Gergiev, I think that the country where such an opera was written should have learned certain lessons long ago, but nevertheless, what is happening is happening.

I think about it a lot, especially now. This opera, in my opinion, is about a powerful explosion, a breakthrough, an escape from the kingdom of darkness of a human being, which has been suppressed for a long time. Katerina is alive first of all, maybe narrow-minded, not an intellectual, but alive and feeling. In her environment are walking freaks and monsters. And when it breaks out, we see this colossal explosion, a breakthrough into the space of love, passion, life. Unfortunately, the cruelest ending is already a drama, but not social, but human. Man destroys man – animals do not destroy each other like that. This is always relevant.