Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
[Subs by gallalala] The centre of the Big Apple is crammed with people today.
It's neither the World Series nor Madonna's concert.
Today the Russians are singing, and their singing is spellbinding.
This is a direct broadcast on Times Square from the best opera house of the world.
The Metropolitan Opera celebrated the beginning of its new season with a Russian production in the Russian language.
The lead role is also performed by a Russian singer—Anna Netrebko.
She is the modern opera diva with a voice which has been worshipped here for over 20 years.
NEW YORK, USA, 3 days before the premiere
New York, Manhattan, 10 West End Avenue.
This is American home of Anna Netrebko.
"She doesn't own the whole building -yet," the local doorman says jokingly.
The diva's guests are expected in the apartments on Floor 32.
Hello! Come in!
Welcome, dear guests.
Anna is giving a house warming party. Recently she has bought additional 100 sq.m. apartment with a view on Manhattan,
adjacent to the apartment which she bought during the American housing crisis in the early 2000s.
This view cost her 20 mln USD.
My apartment is quite big... and I will have to work all my life to pay for it !
I took a loan to buy it.
Now this is the third and the most permanent address of Anna Netrebko.
She also has flats in Vienna and St Petersburg, but she stays in this apartment most often —
at least 3 months a year, depending on her schedule in the MET.
This season she will star here as Tatiana from Eugene Onegin.
Lensky is Anna's neighbor from the third floor, another famous opera singer, Piotr Beszala.
Anna is an amazing neighbor, she is always happy to have guests.
When she gives a party, she always cooks herself.
It's not what Americans usually do, and it's amazing.
This is potato with rosemary and yam.
Yam is American sweet and very tasty potato.
Potato!
The party is tiny by local standards, no more than 50 guests.
Mainly they are her colleagues from the MET.
Also conductor Valeriy Gerghiev, sister Natalia and a few close friends.
I am a professional at opening bottles!
I think the Americans taught me to be optimistic.
They always have a positive attitude to life.
Even if it may look false to us, I still believe it's a right attitude.
I came from Russia, in Moscow and Petersburg it's not customary to smile constantly.
So when I first moved here, people used to approach me to ask "Are you OK?"
I said: "I'm fine, why?"
And they asked: "Then why are you so sad?" - "I don't know..."
People should be friendly, smile, and keep saying "How are you? -- I am fine."
I answered: "Well, we don't usually say it. It's not in our habit."
Over those 18 years she spent abroad, Anna has learnt to accept with a smile even the most atrocious natural disasters.
Last year's series of hurricanes nearly broke all windows in her apartments.
But she never took to the American habit of taking much medicines.
It is customary here that if you are depressed they will give you some relaxant,
and then they will give you some strong stimulant...
we are not accustomed to it.
Instead we have friends which help us cope with our depression, for example, my Krasnodar girlfriends.
We gather together at the table, drink my dad's wine, and share our problems with each other.
We listen to each other, give advice, and we feel much better.
MOSCOW, RUSSIA
Girlfriends. They are her close friends and they play a major role in her life.
Ten Russian beauties from Petersburg and Krasnodar travel with Anna around the world in turns.
Sometimes newspapers call them "Anna's retinue."
They stay together, spend time together and go to Anna's performances together.
IRINA ZAICHUK, ANNA'S FRIEND. Anna always invites us to visit her.
She asks her friends to come,
and many of her friends come to her whenever they can.
I was in Germany, in Salzburg, in Japan and in New-York.
Is she afraid to be alone?
TATIANA SELEZNEVA, ANNA'S FRIEND She is not afraid to be alone.
It's easier for her to be with us.
She needs someone to take care of her, for example, to help her remember all important things, help her do the packing.
It's always easier when there is someone by your side.
When I meet my friends, I don't talk much about my profession.
When I listen to my friend's stories about their lives,
all my stories about performances, collection of shoes and galas seem irrelevant.
When they see my life, it may be a bit difficult for them to come back to their lives in Krasnodar.
The great tragedy of our lives is that we are all over 40,
but we still feel as if we were 20.
And we even still enjoy browsing clothes for young girls.
I don't know why.
Shopping in boutiques of the capital is just a brief relaxation between serious rehearsals.
New York, Vienna, Moscow—the city is not important.
All her life is a run from one famous performance venue to another.
Anna' tour itinerary includes the most prominent destinations in the opera world map.
Today her destination is Red Square.
The duet of Anna Netrebko and Dmitri Hvorostovski is a majestic performance, both in terms of its artistic merit and artistic content.
Business and political elite are listening to Verdi performed by the opera elite.
This is the world level recognition.
Netrebko is not so popular and known in Russia as in the western countries,
so this show on the Red Square is very important for the Russian opera star.
I want to be remembered and loved in Russia,
that is why I want to keep coming back there to support the love of the Russian audience.
This is very important for me.
I can do it if I sing really well and pour my soul into my singing.
All the rest does not depend on me.
A unique and clear soprano is a voice which is much in demand and highly paid for.
An opera star of such level receives at least six digit fees.
It is notable that this this opera singer earned her first million dollars not with her voice, but with her hair.
I had a big contract to advertise hair dye.
It earned me very much money.
It helped me make my first million.
SALZBURG, AUSTRIA
Of course, the basis of her fortune was earned by singing.
Over ten years of working with Netrebko, Deutsche Grammophon has sold over 3 million copies of her disks.
To celebrate this achievement, a luxury party was given in Salzburg last summer.
Her prospects are also bright, and the bigger the prospect, the bigger the dreams.
I have never dreamt about having a castle... but I've always wanted a motorboat.
A small motorboat to take me far in the sea, so one could see me.
I'd like to have private jet, because I am so tired of flying by common airlines.
But then I decided that it's better to have friends with a private jet who can give you a lift somewhere.
She found such a friend in 2010.
At that time she performed the song "Voice" in duet with Philip Kirkorov.
To bring the world opera star to that performance, this Russian pop star charted a private jet for her.
She is a diva, she is a star, and she should feel like a star invited by another star.
I couldn't allow it that Anna Netrebko would arrive by a common flight with three transfers to Yurmala
and then would fly back with the same three transfers.
In the same year their song "Voice" became the winner of the national award "Golden Grammophone,"
and Kirkorov and Netrebko became good friends.
I was so happy to bring Anna to movies when she was in Petersburg.
She wanted to see those awful Transformers, so we booked the whole cinema whole for us two.
We didn't like the movie, but she enjoyed the atmosphere.
She was enjoying her popcorn, and she was like a child, so beautiful and clear,
and perhaps that is why her art is all so beautiful and clear.
I am waiting for her to visit me in Miami.
I want to take her to Disneyland.
She keeps saying "I want to go to Disneyland," and I say
"Please, come, my kids will get big soon, we will take my kids and your Tisha and we will go all together to Disneyland."
A visit to the cinema took only three hours, but a visit to Disneyland will take at least one day,
and Anna cannot afford this time with her busy schedule.
Do you really think that my life is so easy and amazing?
Singing: "Do not believe it that I live in paradise."
I never have any vacations.
I have absolutely no time for myself.
No time for spa, no time for manicure -- just look at my hands!
Well, I don't mind these things, I don't like them, but I want at least to have vacations.
I want to be left alone, spend time on the beach...
but I can't manage it.
KRASNODAR, RUSSIA
This is Krasnodar, the capital of Kuban.
The Black Sea is just 100 km away.
You can have all your time sunbathing on the beach.
But Anna visits Krasnodar much less often than New York or Vienna.
But this is the place where she yearns to be most of all.
This is her home. Here lives her father, Yuri Netrebko.
He is one of the most popular persons in the city— after his daughter, of course.
Whenever I go, people ask me: "Are you the...?" I say: "Yes, I am."
Anna says: "I know you wanted a son. The only thing I can do for you is keep my surname."
The Netrebkos were a typical model Soviet family.
The father was a geologist, the mother was a communications engineer.
Two daughters, elder Natalya and younger Anna.
Natalia now lives in peaceful Denmark.
She says that country is ideal for her well-balanced personality.
Anna's character is very different.
It was clear from her childhood that a calm life wasn't for her.
I remember when I was in the 7th form at school Anna was very tiny (she is trhee years younger)
and she was naughty, she was running everywhere after me and mocking my friends.
When I started meeting with boys, she was following me and mimicking.
She may deny it now, I don't know, but it was!
I was such a get-up-and-go child, and a very explosive one.
I was a wild ball of energy, I couldn't even speak calmly, I was always yelling.
I was always running and shouting, and all adults were mad at me for that. Poor dad...
We had no idea that such little yellers could become great singers...
The musical talent of little Anya was bursting out.
Every weekend her family gave performances, and Anya's voice was getting bigger and more mature like grapes in her father's garden.
Anya's favourite role was Baba Yaga.
TATIANA GEVORKYAN, ANNA'S FRIEND Such a beautiful girl wanted to be only Baba Yaga the Witch.
If someone wanted to play this role, she saw her as her enemy.
I didn't want to be a beauty or a princess. It was boring.
When I was Baba Yaga, I could dance and grimace, and I enjoyed it.
I was very expressive.
We knew by heart all songs from "The Blue Puppy" and "Musicians of Bremen" [famous Russian musical cartoons] and could sing them in any manner.
IRINA ZAICHUK, ANNA'S FRIEND We used to open the doors and announce: "Now we begin our performance!"
Everyone looked at us in silence, sighed and said: '"OK."
And we started out 1.5 hour performance, we sang all songs from our favourite disks.
We invented games from nothing.
Our room turned into a magic castle or pirate's ship, we used different things and rags to build things,
and we used to play until our parent returned and started scolding us for the mess.
When the parent's patience wore out, the mess was moved to the basement.
YURI NETREBKO They wrote with chalk on the basement doors: "The cave of terror."
Now you won't find any terror. Here we keep our homemade preserves and some homemade wine.
This wine is called "Govnezzo" [Rus. Little ***]. But we drink it on all occasions.
Anya says: "Dad, please fetch us some!" He asks "That thing?" "Yes!"
Yes, Govnezzo. And we don't need any Italian or French wines.
Anya says mine is the best.
Let me show you. Now fermenting is finishing.
I should have poured it in wine kegs today, but instead I am standing here and talking with you.
The wine should be ready by New Year.
The younger daughter promised to come.
She will come with her sister, son, friends but without her partner, Uruguayan baritone Erwin Schrott.
They never had any luxury wedding, no white dress and no veil.
I don't know Erwin well, I spoke with him only few times.
His attitude to me was nice. He said: "Yuri Ya tebya lyubyu." (Yuri I love you).
But I can't say I know and understand him well.
Not long ago Netrebko made a shocking announcement.
After six years of marriage she officially announced about their separation.
According to the diva, their marriage was over due to "irreconcilable differences."
Two fiery temperaments burst into flames on every occasion.
This is how they lived... among smoke and ash from fires of their souls.
He used to say: "You are so proud!" I said: "Yes, I am Russian!"
"Could you just yield?" "No!"
We were in contradiction about everything.
"Admit you were wrong!" "No, I was right! You were wrong!" And then it starts...
Actually they lived separately for over a year.
They were separated by their careers.
Artistic marriage is a real drama.
She has a contract with the Metropolitan Opera, and he sings in Covent Garden,
and he wouldn't come to the premiere performance of his ex-wife in the USA.
I couldn't go to his premiere to London because I have my own performances, and he wouldn't go to mine.
He has his rehearsals from 10 to 18, and I have mine.
This contract is important for him.
Then he will have another important contract, and so on...
Such career is more self-sacrificing for a woman than for a man.
With such high stakes, a singer has to deny herself her happiness or personal wellbeing,
or the opportunity to be at home with her family and kids.
We decided to live our own lives. The kid is with me.
NEW YORK, USA This video is exclusive because Anna does not usually demonstrate her child to press.
She admits her child is special,
and she does not like any talks about his special needs.
Only close friends and relatives spend time with Five year old Tiago,
who was named after a Catholic saint Santiago.
I call him Tishka just after I learnt that they gave him this Spanish name.
It's difficult for me to call him Tiago, so I call him Tishka,
and now everyone calls him Tishka after me.
He is a leader and he likes to command.
"Mama, put off your dress and put on your pajamas. Mama, come here. Mama, read to me."
And I read.
Yesterday I said: "Wait, I need to see the guests off, and they I will come and read to you"
and he became very upset and started whining.
So I had to go to bed and read to him. Sorry, my guests, and good buy.
She was always carrying him, in prams, and in the baby sling.
VLADISLAV MONASTIRSKY, NETREBKO'S MANAGER
Sometimes he can get attracted by some shiny shop window with ticking clocks or shining toys in the airport,
but she has to run to check-in, and he starts screaming...
Poor passengers are appalled when I drag him along the floor...
But she is a strong mother and she can cope with everything.
Now it's 8:30 AM and the mother is taking her son to school...
I wake up, dress him, cook him porridge, and he happily drives his scooter...
He says: "Mom, run!" And I run.
But then he even forgets to say goodbye to his mom.
He closes the door and runs to his teacher and friends.
His teachers are very good.
He speaks a lot of English now, of course.
I speak Russian and English to him.
He understands Russian too, he watches cartoons and sings songs in Russian, and all my friends are Russian.
Despite his Bohemian environment, he is a typical modern child
who finds shiny electronic pictures more interesting than communication with people.
He needs only his awful Ipad and nothing else.
I have to take it from him by force.
I understand, it has interesting and learning games, but it's not good at all.
According to Anna, motherhood is more than hard labour.
It's a heroic deed in some sense.
It's easier to learn an opera than make your precious kid learn a poem.
Anna has decided that she is not going to have another kid.
No, I am too old, one kid is enough for me.
No, I can't, I need to devote myself to this kid.
He is special, I have to work a lot with him.
It's very difficult to deal with his character.
NEW YORK, DAY BEFORE #$PREMIERE. When her son is at school, she goes home.
Today she will live a calm life of an American housewife.
No parties, no guests, she will buy some vegetables in the market, cook soup and go to sleep.
Until tomorrow night the actress will have so called "silence day."
The voice needs rest. Tomorrow is the grand premiere.
This is the Metropolitan Opera.
Tomorrow we will wear beautiful dresses and give the first performance.
This is a very big event.
The square will be crammed with people.
The show will be broadcast live.
Wish me good luck.
Anna was marching to this grand venue from her childhood.
She chose this path by herself, when she was about 11.
She said: "I want to sing."
I said: "Remember, either you will have to sing very well, or you will be no more than a simple choir girl."
"Dad, everything will be fine."
Some people told me "You can do it," others said "Your voice is nothing special,"
I believed none of them. I played my own tune.
She played that tune even on her exams, and got good scores.
I improved my score from 3 to 5, and they gave me 4 in the end.
I said something to the examiners, I didn't know English of course,
so I said: "Let me sing to you instead."
This is how I passed my exams.
This is our historical album of our choir "Kuban Pioneers."
The choir "Kuban Pioneers" is a legend of the Krasnodar pioneer centre.
Here the future world star Anna Netrebko made her first steps to her glory.
And her way to the stars was full of difficulties.
ELENA ANASHEVA, CHOIR TEACHER: This is Lyubov Arkadievna, her first teacher who used to drag Anna from trees and fetch her here to the rehearsal.
She was a soloist, she was always the best and noone denied it.
VICTORIA KHARKOVSKAYA, FRIEND She always had many admirers, she used to read historical love novels,
and she was a very enthusiastic person.
She could draw beautifully, though she was never taught how to draw.
I remember she used to draw beautiful horses.
She used to draw beautiful 19th century ladies in beautiful romantic dresses,
on beautiful horses with small dogs.
It was fascinating.
Anna took after her mother a lot.
TATIANA KOVALEVA, FRIEND OF THE FAMILY Larisa could sing, liked dressing up in fancy dresses.
They gave performances on New Year.
It was amazing, like returning to childhood.
Larisa was very passionate, and her girls inherited this passion.
Larisa Netrebko passed away in 2002.
An oncological disease killed her just within a few weeks.
When it happened, Anna was singing for the first time in the MET.
Critics said that her interpretation of Natasha from War and Peace was a true dramatic revelation.
They did not know that great opera performances were sometimes nourished by deep grief.
While she was dying on the stage, her mother died. It was awful.
Neither of my daughters could come to funerals.
I asked them not to.
They came to the 9 day memorial service.
I would do the same.
I wouldn't want my children to see me like this.
I am thankful to her, because I don't have the memory of her dying.
Some people may think it's wrong...
Now the memories of Larisa Netrebko live in the hearts of those who loved her and in some precious photos.
I always call myself a happy person, because I had in my life such a woman as Anna's mother.
She was the best friend for our daughters.
They adored each other. That was an amazing and harmonious female team.
My dad gave me a lot.
We became closely connected when I grew up.
When I began my studies, he began to respect me a lot.
He said: "You are good girl, you've made it!"
SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA
Now her dad has another reason to be proud of her—after her performance in the renovated Mariinsky.
She sang a couple of popular arias for selected guests.
It was like singing in the corporate party.
Both the scales of the hall and the performing stars let us guess the scale of the customer.
But the trip to Petersburg would have been a great gift for Anna even without that opportunity.
There her best student years passed.
There her professional career began.
And now, sitting in the room backstage, she recalls not exquisite dishes at the party, but a simple breakfast prepared by her friends.
Once I woke up in the morning, came to the table and -- can you imagine! -- I saw some slices of Bologna sausage, smoked sprats and brown bread!
I devoured it all -- sausage, with squash spread and sprats.
That was my breakfast. That was how we lived in the USSR.
Anna went to Petersburg — Leningrad at that time — at the end of 1980s to study the vocal art.
She bewildered the panel of examiners with her big voice and her passion.
During the first round of exams she began dancing when she was singing.
During the second round the head of the panel said: "Anya, if you start dancing again, I will kick you out."
Anya pulled herself together, and, of course, passed the entrance exams, first in the college, and then in the conservatory.
She moved to the legendary building opposite the Mariinsky after the second course in the college.
That was an unusual progress.
A renowned teacher, professor Tamara Novichenko managed to see an incredible potential in the young artist,
and insisted on her immediate transfer.
Hello! This is the entrance to which we hurried every day, afraid to be late as usual.
These were our rooms. Here was our timetable.
When we were in college, we were walking by this theatre and she said: "I know I will sing in this theatre."
She had not a shadow of doubt.
Anya sang roles of all goats. We staged the opera "Wolf and seven little goats" and she was bored to sing a one single goat.
ZLATA BULYCHEVA, PRINCIPAL PERFORMER AT MARIINSKY It was a nice opera for children, with a lot of jumping and dancing.
The principal performer of Mariinsky Zlata Bulycheva is one of Anna's friends who are very important to her.
Unfortunately, they don't often have a chance to see each other, because Zlata is also an opera star with her own tight schedule.
But whenever Netrebko is in Petersburg, they spend at least one hour talking on phone.
They recall their dormitories, boys, and dad's delicious food.
The direct train from Krasnodar to Petersburg left at 1:00 at night.
So I came to the station at night to send a parcel to Anya with train attendants, and they went back on foot.
We used to celebrate when she got a parcel from Krasnodar.
Everyone came to our room and enjoyed all delicious things.
And we even felt drunk with food.
I remember her mom sent us potato, radish, cherries. We ate and felt drunk,
I don't know why, may be because we never had enough food.
We were so slender, that we even wanted to put on some weight.
They were slender, hungry and beautiful.
But beautiful student Anna turned out to be too romantic, both beautiful and forbidding.
I decided that I would marry my first boyfriend, and my first kiss would be only with him.
My notions were a bit strange.
So I waited until 22, then I got tired, and decided enough was enough.
My first love was a bass from my course. He was very nice, a real man.
Everyone thought he was not a match for her.
First, he was married, and he was not very handsome.
But she showed some protest against all those hunks.
Sorrows of love do not hinder with great art.
On the contrary, they enrich the artist's inner world.
In addition, Anna and her friend found a secret path to this world of big opera —
they started to work as janitresses in the theatre
and they could see all opera stars on stage where they would shine one day.
As for the cleaning, a bit of inventiveness occasionally helped them forget about dirty cleaning mops.
Sometimes we paid to one old lady who also worked as a janitress, and she helped us clean, because it was very difficult.
There were no these modern big mops at that time, and I always wanted to have something to cope with all that slosh in winter.
And one day an inevitable thing happened.
They ran into each other in the corridor, the beginning singer and a young ambitious conductor
who had recently took over the post of director.
It was impossible to pay no attention to that girl for several reasons:
first, she was very good-looking, and second, she wore strange clothes, some sort of overalls.
I assumed she was not an artist,
and I was surprised to see her among young artists at auditions three months later.
I was curious to give her some role.
I came to her and asked: "What if you learn the role of Susanna?"
Mischievous girl Sussana, as unpredictable as Netrebko herself, was the beginning.
She became the winner of Glinka's contest in 1993.
Then the Queen of the Night in Magic Flute.
In 1995 she was already singing Lyudmila from Ruslan and Lyudmila in San Francisco.
She was personally invited there by Placido Domingo.
For me Anna is on the same level as Maria Callas, she is the singer of the same talent and scale.
The same phenomenal voice mastery.
When I first heard her I understood that I would enjoy working with her as much as working with Callas.
SALZBURG, AUSTRIA
The premiere of Ruslan and Lyudmila was a turning point in Anna Netrebko's career.
She became a star famous around the world.
Now the Russian public cheers artists, but at that time -- 1994-95 -- they met us with a very restrained applause.
They even never shouted "Brava!"
So when I came out to curtain call and heard all those cheers,
and I was afraid that I even hid behind my Ruslan.
I was told that my behavior was improper,
I should stay and bow when the public was greeting me.
Later I was taught how I should behave during the curtain call.
Stand with dignity and don't look foolish,
do not look as happy as a puppy, look noble and modest.
Show your gratitude and leave.
Speaking about curtain calls, humbleness does not suit such artists as Anna.
She can't hide her Cossack spirit, or she wouldn't be herself.
During her curtain call after Elisir D'Amore in Vienna opera
she came out to the stage making a cartwheel,
and the public might remember it better than the opera itself.
I made that cartwheel, and my skirt slipped up,
and the public saw my bottom in green flower-dotted ***.
Such a shame!
A 40 years old Honoured Artist, a mother... what a shame.
Ok, it lasted just for a moment.
SALZBURG, AUSTRIA
The Honoured Artist of Russia, world opera diva Anna Netrebko —
now her name opens prestige opera venues and even state boundaries.
Visa problems were eliminated for Anna in 2006,
when the Austrian government granted Anna with the Austrian passport for her artistic merits.
She doesn't even speak German, but she can sing beautifully.
So now Mozart's motherland can be proud of its another great citizen.
Mozart himself would be delighted, too.
Hello Mozart, how are you? What is your name? - I am Keith Sieberg. - Where are you from? - Salzburg.
You must be famous here. -- Not as famous as you are. - Can I take a photo with you?
Both her fans and press have long called Anna "The Queen."
And the Queen's peaceful life should be protected.
For this purpose, for already 15 years one man is always present by her side offscreen.
He can calm down the excited crowd all by himself.
Some people think he is her bodyguard, others think he is her manager.
Netrebko sees him as her friend and assistant.
His name is Vladislav Monastirsky, or Vlad for his close friends.
People often say: "You are a good bodyguard!"
No, I am not a bodyguard. It would be an honor to be her protector, but I think I have already outgrown this role.
He is my Russian manager, and he can cope with everything.
SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA. I am very much thankful to him.
I was buying my first flat in Petersburg.
We arrived all together: me, Vlad and his wife Katya.
We had a case with money and a gun.
That was how we used to buy flats in Petersburg in late 1990s.
We brought money, but the seller suddenly decided to raise the price.
If not for Vlad with his intimidating scowl, we would have neither flat nor money.
Now Anna visits her flat in Petersburg no more than three times a year,
usually when she comes to Petersburg at request of Maestro Gerghiev.
Rehearsals and performances are carried out in due course, but her house is in a mess.
Her friends, colleagues, teachers, parties...
but it doesn't last long.
Just a few days to meet her past, and they she returns to America,
where her glorious present is waiting for her.
NEW YORK, USA, 23 September 2013
Metropolitan Opera, Eugene Onegin.
The language of opera is Russian, Valery Gerghiev conducting, Tatiana is Anna Netrebko.
SERGEY SKOROKHKODOV, OPERA SINGER Anna is the only opera singer who opened the opera seasons here three times in a row.
It is as difficult to get tickets to this premiere as to get an appointment with the President of the USA.
Local stars walk the Red Carpet — actors, sportsmen, models.
The opera house is open only for VIP public today,
but the organisers have found a very clever solution which proves their high professionalism.
Everyone else can enjoy the live stream of this premiere from the best opera theatre of the world.
Eugene Onegine premiere will be also broadcast on screens near the MET on Times Square.
This is one-in-a-lifetime performance.
Eight bright screens among shining lights of the square.
Hundreds of people, and the glorious music by Tchaikovsky and glorious poetry by Pushkin
and the glorious voice of Anna Netrebko on Times Square, broadcast live from the Metropolitan Opera.
Feel this moment.
To be on stage is the thing which she covets and enjoys most of all.
She is an actress, and this is a part of her.
As Italians say, Anya is "un animale" on stage, she is like an animal on stage,
her stage presence is immense, she lives her own life on stage.
She is very natural on stage, and this is a divine gift.
We sang Joanna d'Arc in Salzburg,
and when we were on stage I suddenly thought that Anna could lead troops.
I watched her walk around the setting and lead her role and mesmerize the audience.
She is an opera military commander. She is a real star.
She can jump, run, somersault, run crazy -- if required.
She would be an amazing Queen Elizabeth.
She can be a very touching Violetta, dying on stage, and bringing public to tears.
She is a great artist.
Are you a happy person?
Of course I am a happy person.
I am happy because I live,
I am happy because I am surrounded with people who love me and whom I love,
I have a profession which I love and this makes my life meaningful.
And love life. It's very short.
We don't have much time...
I am already 42, and it was all like a one second.
I want to do so much.
The tight schedule and strict contracts have already planned her life until 2019.
We believe that that year is by no means final in her professional career.
We believe that that year is by no means final in her professional career. [subs by gallalala]