What I teach – My initial studies at the Bern University of the Arts HKB were in music and movement, which meant that I came into contact with body techniques and pedagogy at an early date.
Over the course of my 20 years on the stage, a desire grew in me to communicate my knowledge to others, and to introduce young singers to a career on stage, mentoring them and supporting them. As a singer who is active in the opera house and the concert hall, I am convinced that I can pass on very valuable, varied, nuanced, practical knowledge to my students on a one-to-one basis …
… because what I especially lacked during my vocal studies in London was a solid technique, knowledge about my instrument and how it functions, and how I could use my vocal technique in a specific, purposeful way. It’s precisely these aspects and others that I focus on in my teaching. If you’re going to engage regularly with all kinds of works and roles, then you have to keep up your vocal training, and you have to consolidate your vocal technique. But you likewise have to stay body-conscious, maintain your bodywork and your movement-awareness – and you also have to take delight in actual physical movement. All these are basic prerequisites for coping with the challenges you’ll face in your stage career. Naturally, you’ll also be put into all kinds of scenic situations and given all manner of stage directions that make singing more difficult. And the very different stage sets and costumes you’ll be dealing with are not going to make singing and acting any easier, either.
Carmen
My biggest role: Carmen. Carmen is undoubtedly one of the better-known roles, and the biggest I have sung to date.
It doesn’t make it any easier that the role is so laden with clichés. You think that you know Carmen; but fathoming her character, understanding her, realising her and embodying her on stage always confronted me with a great enigma. Ultimately, it was this enigma that showed me who she was, and my work comprised transforming this quality into my singing, my acting, my dancing and speaking. I’d be delighted to sing her again.