Elena Stikhina on Salzburg, Tosca and the reality of a singer’s life

On a sunny but rather chilly summer afternoon, I met Elena Stikhina on a terrace with a breathtaking view over Salzburg. The Russian soprano has, in little more than a decade, built a career that has taken her from her first job in Vladivostok to the world’s greatest stages, celebrated for the power and warmth of her voice as well as the sincerity of her interpretations. Although she portrays diva roles around the world, in real life she is anything but. In our conversation she is warm and approachable, speaking with honesty about her journey and the challenging realities of a singer’s life.

You're back at the Salzburg Festival for the fifth time. What do you like about the festival and the city?

For me Salzburg is a really personal place, because I met my husband here. I think of it a little bit as a fairytale city: it's very small but contains everything I like the most. There’s mountains, good food and lakes nearby where you can swim and be surrounded by nature. The first time I came here was for a very difficult opera, for Medea – I was jumping in for Sonya Yoncheva – and I didn't know what to expect, because everything was short notice. But Salzburg gave me a very nice welcome and the performances were a big success.

How do you keep your energy up after a long season?

I think the secret is that I'm really passionate about what I'm doing. I love my job. I think I'm one of the luckiest people in the world because I found my passion early and actually I'm never tired of doing my work. And I have vacations of course! But I think the clue is that you need to care about yourself not only during vacation time, you always need to care about yourself!

How do you choose which roles to sing?

It usually comes through discussions with the opera houses. In Salzburg, for example, they offered Maddalena in Andrea Chénier. It’s not a very big role but it’s demanding and difficult because the tessitura is very low. It's difficult to stage this opera, because you need to find the tenor first because it's an extremely demanding role. So that's why it's so rarely performed and I decided I should take the opportunity.

Is it harder to portray a character – especially for the first time – if you have to perform it without costumes or staging?

It’s much more difficult! With costumes and sets on stage, you can hide a little bit behind them. But in a concert performance, you need to present your character differently. You need to show everything, the story and all the emotions with your voice and its colours. But it's also very fun. I'm looking forward to it!

What is your favourite moment in Andrea Chénier?

The final duet. It's the best final duet ever written. It's so beautiful, so intense, so full of pathos, it's so... I don't know, I cannot explain it. You just need to hear it to understand what I'm talking about!

When did you fall in love with opera?

When I was 15 I met my first teacher; her passion for opera influenced me. I studied piano at music school but I wasn’t passionate about classical music. Then I met my teacher and she figured out that I have a voice. And she introduced me to that world and gave me recordings to listen to. And when I started to sing I realised that I like it and I had this feeling that I wanted to continue. When you find your passion it’s something you always want to do! And later I was admitted to the Moscow Conservatory when I was 17.

How did you make your way from a small Russian town to big stages around the world?

Actually the two years after I graduated from university were difficult. I couldn't find any work and I thought maybe it's time to stop. But I continued to study at the Vishnevskaya Centre in Moscow, and then, in 2014, there was an audition for the theatre in Vladivostok because they needed a resident ensemble. The first time I auditioned I wasn't successful. Then they did a second audition because they needed more singers, specifically for the part of Nedda in Pagliacci. They asked me, ‘We have a premiere in two weeks. Are you ready to do the production?’ I knew only one aria but I said ‘Yes, I'm ready!’. Two days later, they called me and invited me to Vladivostok and I studied the role very quickly. Luckily, it's a short opera!

In 2016 you competed at the prestigious Operalia competition – what was that experience like?

It was a really cool experience. I didn't expect anything from the competition because I had participated in a lot of competitions but I wasn't always very successful. But Operalia brought me to another level of my career, because I was seen by the casting director of Paris Opera there, who gave me the opportunity to jump in for Anna Netrebko in 2017 [in Eugene Onegin].

Is it a challenge to work on two different productions of Tosca currently?

Absolutely not. The Vienna production [by Margarete Wallmann] is very classical, and I love it. I love it especially because of the dress in Act 2, this is my favourite moment. I’ve already sung this production twice and now it will be my third time, and I hope it’s not the last. I hope it will continue to exist for a long time! But Barrie Kosky’s production [in Amsterdam] is also really great. Everything is about the quality, it's not about, how you call it, modern or classic.

How has your interpretation of Tosca changed over the years?

It's changing in every performance actually, in every production, because every day you’re looking at the story from a different perspective. For example ten years ago, everything about the story was very romantic. Nowadays I'm looking at them like they are all sick. But without this kind of drama, without the conflict, opera doesn't work. In real life it would now be called a toxic relationship. At first it was very difficult for me to understand Tosca’s character in the beginning of the story. So when I was first learning this part I came to my teacher, Makvala Kasrashvili, and she told me that stage director Boris Pokrovsky once told her that the Act 1 is more like an operetta, and in Act 2 the real drama begins. That’s why you need to find a different way to sing Act 1.

What do you think makes Puccini's works special and so beloved by audiences?

Puccini knows that a suffering woman on stage is always a great success. And he made women suffer in many different ways: sickness, poisoning, suicide. Puccini is one of the greatest composers ever because his music is so intense. With a lot of other composers you can cut some parts of an opera and nobody will notice. But when it comes to Puccini you cannot do that. It's so complex and it's written so perfectly!

This season you’ll sing Tchaikovsky’s Maid of Orleans, Strauss’ Salome and Bellini’s Norma among others. How do you manage to sing this broad repertoire?

Actually it's a lot of fun, and the roles are not that different from each other. The biggest difference is the language. But you don't change your style of singing or your technique. It's great because in a lot of operas you find some key on how to sing another part and you realise ‘oh, this works here as well’. So it's giving you more colours and more experience than when you do only one style.

How far ahead do you plan when it comes to new roles?

It's very difficult to say, you cannot plan five or ten years in advance. You can think about that but you actually never know, how your voice will develop. Sometimes your voice is growing or showing new abilities. You can dream, but you don't really know.

Which roles do you dream about?

I want to sing Adriana Lecouvreur and I would also love to sing Traviata, as long as I can do it because I need to have very high notes for this role but a very good middle register as well. One day hopefully the Verdi Requiem! And actually I've thought about singing Marguerite in Faust. I don't think that somebody will ever cast me as a Marguerite, but I would love to!

And maybe also more German repertoire?

If you sing a lot of German repertoire, you're mostly pushed by theatres to sing even more German repertoire. That's why I'm not hurrying towards it, though I have a few roles in my repertoire, like Salome, Elsa or Elisabeth (Tannhäuser). I would love to perform more Strauss, but I think it can wait a little bit. Also I think the more you're working in the business, the more you understand that what’s most important is sometimes not even the roles you sing, but also the colleagues you’re working with… If there would be an extremely good package, regarding colleagues, stage director and conductor, maybe I’d even agree to do something crazy.

How important is it for singers to be active on social media?

I think nowadays it's very important because the people we try to bring to the opera are younger generations who are all online. Life is happening online and if you have no social media visibility it's actually difficult for them to know about you. The old style of promotion doesn't work anymore.

You also use Instagram to give tips to young singers – why is that important to you?

When I was a student, nobody gave us anything. Everything was closed and serious. And I don't think it's really that serious, because it's just a job but you also stay a normal person. So I'm trying to help others. People don't know how to audition, what to wear, where to apply and which repertoire to choose. And it's also important to tell the young generation that everybody fails. I failed so many times and even now, although I have a good career, there are some roles which I want to sing, but I don't, because of casting directors who don't see me in these roles.

It's easy to forget about that with social media where everyone only shows perfection, don’t you think?

Absolutely! But social media shows like 1% of your life. And I also want to be perfect, but I'm not perfect and that's fine. I always had some extra weight and I had a lot of complexes about how I look and what I wear. Especially for women, that’s a never-ending story. But then I understood that it’s not about perfection but about uniqueness! When you accept your individuality without trying to create someone else out of yourself it’s easier. A lot of young singers are listening to recordings of other singers and they're trying to copy them. But the key is to find what works for your voice, to find your unique color.

Speaking of individuality – Asmik Grigorian is including songs by Lady Gaga in her recital at the festival. If you had to put together a programme of classical and non-classical music, which pieces would you choose?

Actually I'm not good at answering this question because I don't really know pop music. I'm not listening to a lot of music outside of my job, because I don't have time for it. I would probably sing something in Spanish. Maybe something by Piazzolla, which is also rather classical but I think it would be a good match for my voice.

And maybe some songs from before you even decided to become an opera singer?

Oh, I’ve always liked Whitney Houston. I had one of her CDs at home, it was my favourite when I was a child, and I was singing along to it all the time. So maybe some of her songs!