14.09.2016
Tatiana Ryaguzova: “Opera is a woman’s milieu”
Tatiana Ryaguzova starred in the opening-night performance of La Bohème. The singer explains why she was so anxious about this role, what other characters she will encounter in the coming season, and why her flat looks like an operating theatre.
"Mimi in La Bohème is very important to me. I approach this role with particular trepidation. You might say I’m at my most nervous when playing this role. I sometimes tell myself that I would rather do ten Onegins than one La Bohème. Mimi fits a certain stereotype of a sick, feeble, dying woman. I don’t exactly have the right look for it, or the right personality: I’m a very passionate person. I felt a kinship with Carsen’s production primarily because he doesn’t focus on Mimi’s sickness, weaknesses, and fragility. Yes, the characters are very poor. But they are also alive and filled with passion, including Mimi. Mimi is actually not that different from Musetta, although these two characters are usually set up in contrast to each other.
"I’m happy we are doing La Bohème this season. And I’m very excited, very happy to see The Storm returning to the stage. I mention in all my interviews that I would love to have the joy of performing this role again. Katerina is my favourite role, although I never could have imagined that this would turn out to be the case. When I was just starting to learn the music, I was in shock. Janáček has a very complex musical language. But what an amazing female character he managed to create! I hope this time I’ll be able to bring her to life a little differently.
"When we read Ostrovsky’s play in school, I was too young to understand it. All I retained were a few formulaic phrases. Now I see the story of my character — a very adult, grown-up story — through completely different eyes. To some extent, I try to rely on events and experiences from my own life. By the way, I know many singers who have a completely different approach: they work at the theatre, but the moment they step outside, they go back to their own lives. They completely switch off that side of themselves. Then there are others who are always on stage: even at home, they are still on stage. I am part of that second group. I work 24 hours a day. Olga Kapanina used to kick me out of the theatre. She would tell me to go home: to spend less time at the theatre, to focus on my own life.
"I don’t have a natural inclination for the humanities. My dream was to be a surgeon. I need a diagram, a plan, everything in its place. I have to control everything, calculate every step. Chaos scares me: I’m afraid I’ll miss something. But you do need an element of surprise. The Storm’s Katerina is very different. Unhappy with her condition, she found happiness in her imagination. Her beloved Boris is, in effect, the product of her imagination. She invented him. And Mimi... I think she is a smart, even calculating young woman. She deliberately went to meet Rodolfo, after all. She wasn’t there by chance: she had spent a long time listening in. She knew four young men were living there, so she went there specifically to meet someone and to flirt. It was brave of her. But all our women are brave. Take any opera. Men lose out, for some reason. Take Eugene Onegin, The Storm, Rusalka, La traviata — the feminine element is stronger in all of them. It’s just like in life: unfortunately, more often than not, women are stronger than men. At least that’s how it seems to me, but I could be wrong. I hope I’m wrong. I don’t know, maybe that’s just based on things I’ve seen. Life, just like opera, is a woman’s milieu.
“When I arrived in St. Petersburg, I couldn’t even imagine that this city would become my home. My window looks out over the Gulf of Finland. St. Petersburg is the most beautiful city in the world, but it doesn’t have enough sunshine for me. So I decided to make my home as light as possible. Everyone laughed at me: ‘Ryaguzova, you’re building yourself an operating theatre!’ But I told them I didn’t care. I would even put up a red cross. That’s how we joked around. Many parts of my flat look like the ‘white’ scenes from Eugene Onegin.
“At home, I take a break from work, enjoy my life, grow flowers, and bake for my guests. I made traditional Russian food for my dear partner and friend Neil Shicoff and his wife. Soon, I hope to surprise Andriy Zholdak with some traditional Russian pancakes.”
"Mimi in La Bohème is very important to me. I approach this role with particular trepidation. You might say I’m at my most nervous when playing this role. I sometimes tell myself that I would rather do ten Onegins than one La Bohème. Mimi fits a certain stereotype of a sick, feeble, dying woman. I don’t exactly have the right look for it, or the right personality: I’m a very passionate person. I felt a kinship with Carsen’s production primarily because he doesn’t focus on Mimi’s sickness, weaknesses, and fragility. Yes, the characters are very poor. But they are also alive and filled with passion, including Mimi. Mimi is actually not that different from Musetta, although these two characters are usually set up in contrast to each other.
"I’m happy we are doing La Bohème this season. And I’m very excited, very happy to see The Storm returning to the stage. I mention in all my interviews that I would love to have the joy of performing this role again. Katerina is my favourite role, although I never could have imagined that this would turn out to be the case. When I was just starting to learn the music, I was in shock. Janáček has a very complex musical language. But what an amazing female character he managed to create! I hope this time I’ll be able to bring her to life a little differently.
"When we read Ostrovsky’s play in school, I was too young to understand it. All I retained were a few formulaic phrases. Now I see the story of my character — a very adult, grown-up story — through completely different eyes. To some extent, I try to rely on events and experiences from my own life. By the way, I know many singers who have a completely different approach: they work at the theatre, but the moment they step outside, they go back to their own lives. They completely switch off that side of themselves. Then there are others who are always on stage: even at home, they are still on stage. I am part of that second group. I work 24 hours a day. Olga Kapanina used to kick me out of the theatre. She would tell me to go home: to spend less time at the theatre, to focus on my own life.
"I don’t have a natural inclination for the humanities. My dream was to be a surgeon. I need a diagram, a plan, everything in its place. I have to control everything, calculate every step. Chaos scares me: I’m afraid I’ll miss something. But you do need an element of surprise. The Storm’s Katerina is very different. Unhappy with her condition, she found happiness in her imagination. Her beloved Boris is, in effect, the product of her imagination. She invented him. And Mimi... I think she is a smart, even calculating young woman. She deliberately went to meet Rodolfo, after all. She wasn’t there by chance: she had spent a long time listening in. She knew four young men were living there, so she went there specifically to meet someone and to flirt. It was brave of her. But all our women are brave. Take any opera. Men lose out, for some reason. Take Eugene Onegin, The Storm, Rusalka, La traviata — the feminine element is stronger in all of them. It’s just like in life: unfortunately, more often than not, women are stronger than men. At least that’s how it seems to me, but I could be wrong. I hope I’m wrong. I don’t know, maybe that’s just based on things I’ve seen. Life, just like opera, is a woman’s milieu.
“When I arrived in St. Petersburg, I couldn’t even imagine that this city would become my home. My window looks out over the Gulf of Finland. St. Petersburg is the most beautiful city in the world, but it doesn’t have enough sunshine for me. So I decided to make my home as light as possible. Everyone laughed at me: ‘Ryaguzova, you’re building yourself an operating theatre!’ But I told them I didn’t care. I would even put up a red cross. That’s how we joked around. Many parts of my flat look like the ‘white’ scenes from Eugene Onegin.
“At home, I take a break from work, enjoy my life, grow flowers, and bake for my guests. I made traditional Russian food for my dear partner and friend Neil Shicoff and his wife. Soon, I hope to surprise Andriy Zholdak with some traditional Russian pancakes.”
