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" When I am on the opera stage, I am playing someone else. In recitals, I even have the chance to talk to the audience, which is something you don't get to do in opera. "

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" It's the worst feeling, coming back after a performance when you are on a real high, and you go back alone to an apartment or a hotel room. People think we sit in hotels and eat bon bons. But the lifestyle can be very stressful. "

Sondra Radvanovsky

You

Alone

Performance

" People have this idea that opera singers are overweight and sit at home eating bonbons. But I consider myself an athlete. "

" When I was signing up for the University of Southern California's music program, I flipped a coin to decide my major. If it came up heads, it would be flute - tails would be voice. "

Sondra Radvanovsky

Music

University

" What if you didn't have education for sports? People with a natural inclination for sports, athletes without any kind of education, without any kind of training, they would just be couch athletes instead of the world class Olympians that we have. "

" I think Chicagoans have a great set of values. You know what I mean? Kindness. Morals. Ethics. People in Chicago do the right thing. If somebody falls on the street, someone will actually stop and help them up. That doesn't happen in certain other cities. "

" Trying to look glamorous while singing is not easy. "

" I perform in opera houses in the centres of big cities. We live in 20 acres of forest. You need that space to recover and renew. "

" Singing bel canto is like walking on a tightrope - especially with a larger voice like mine. "

Sondra Radvanovsky

Walking

Voice

" My roots really instilled Chicago values in me. "

Sondra Radvanovsky

Roots

Values

" Most voices get weaker and frailer. I seem to be getting better with age. "

" I walk around the house in my pajamas all day if I want to. "

" When I teach master classes, I tell young singers if the foundation isn't good, the house will crumble. "

" The vocal cords are a muscle, and like any other muscle in the body, they can be strained. So you have to warm up. "

Sondra Radvanovsky

Warm

You

" After I turn 50, I would like to sing Verdi's 'Attila.' "

" I have the best job in the whole world because I get paid to do something I love. How many people do you know who can say that? "

" I guess my first professional experience was when my church choir director told my mother that I had a gift with my voice and said that I should think about auditioning, at 11 years old, for the chorus of our regional opera company. "

" And if I don't sing, I don't get paid. "

" Artists shouldn't deal with business stuff; that's not what we're trained in, and most of us aren't good at it. "

Sondra Radvanovsky

Business

Deal

" I tell young singers not to listen to themselves. What I hear is not what you hear. "

" I'm going to the gym and really taking care of myself and trying to stay fit, eating properly. "

" For sure, one moment really defined the path that I was to take in the future, and that was when I won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in New York in April of 1995. I had just turned 25 two days before the finals concert, and when I won, I had no idea how my life would change because of it. "

" I would have to say that my very first encounter with the arts was when my mother bought me my first record player when I was six years old as well as a Karen Carpenter record. "

" When you do a 'messa di voce,' that means you start soft, you crescendo into loud - and then you go back to soft again. Some people call it circus tricks, but in bel canto, it's really written into the music. "

" I don't like happy stuff. I'm not funny. "

Sondra Radvanovsky

Funny

Stuff

" If I can transport audiences for the three or four hours they're at the opera, to make them forget all of their worries, the bills they have to pay and all that, then I've done my job. That, for me, is very gratifying. "

" You go to the gym to make sure you have the stamina to breathe in the corsets. "

Sondra Radvanovsky

Stamina

You

" You have to be in tune with your body and know when your body is saying, 'That's enough, you're done for the day.' If you over-fatigue and are totally stressed, you get sick. And if I get sick, I can't work. "

" Even when I'm not onstage singing, there's always music going on in my head. It's a curse and a blessing in a way - it's sitting in bed at night, trying to go to sleep, while the music keeps playing in your head - especially when you're trying to learn something new and you're trying to memorize it and get everything. "

" HD is not forgiving. Once you see your face for the first time in a movie cinema, you run straight to the gym. "

" I love the tragic side. I don't do 'happy' onstage. I like the dark, the disturbed. "

Sondra Radvanovsky

Side

Love