JAMES STRECKER: Please tell us about one or more projects that you have been working on or have recently completed. Why exactly do they matter to you and why should they matter to us?
ADRIANNE PIECZONKA: I recently sang The Marschallin in Richard Strauss’ opera Der Rosenkavalier at the Vienna State Opera. My performance on March 21st marked the 1000th performance of this opera in Vienna. This is a huge milestone – when you consider that Der Rosenkavalier has been performed in just one European city this many times, it is really amazing.
JS: How did doing these projects change you as a person and as a creator?
AP: I’m not sure this project changed me per se – but of course it was a huge honour to be part of such an important performance which might go down in the record books I suppose. It was very inspiring of course and a few days before the performance there was a large symposium on the opera and many grande dames were in attendance – singers who had sung leading roles in the opera in Vienna in the 60’s to the present time.
JS: What might others not understand or appreciate about the work you produce or do?
AP: I think others might not appreciate just how much discipline is required to be an opera singer. I liken the art of singing to an athletic sport in many ways. You have to train your voice, keep it in shape, warm up, warm down, keep changing and adapting your technique as time goes by. I have been singing professionally now for 31 years and to keep singing decade after decade is also not so easy. To have a long career in the opera business is happening less and less. Many singers find that after 10-15 years, their careers are over which is very sad.
JS: What are the most important parts of yourself that you put into your work?
AP: I put my heart and soul into my work, in a nutshell I put everything I have into it. I love what I do and somehow I am still driven to keep doing it! I am still learning, still evolving and adapting. This process never ends.
JS: What are your biggest challenges as a creative person?
AP: I think my biggest challenge is that I am innately not a patient person. I want to see results ASAP and I lack the trust or patience sometimes to just go along with a creative process. I am a Type A personality which is not ideal for creative people.
JS: Imagine that you are meeting two or three people, living or dead, whom you admire because of their work in your form of artistic expression. What would you say to them and what would they say to you?
AP: I would like to meet Franz Schubert and WA Mozart. Both are Austrian composers dear to my heart. I began my career in Vienna, Austria in 1989 and to live in the city where both of these brilliant composers lived and worked was really inspirational. I might ask them about their creative process – how did their inspiration happen? Both composers were so prolific and so gifted that it boggles my mind to know just how they achieved what they achieved. Next on my list would be to meet Giuseppi Verdi and ask him about writing so beautifully for the voice.
JS: Please describe at least one major turning point in your life that helped to make you who you are as a creative artist.
AP: I suppose it would have to be way back in 1988 when I decided to leave Toronto and move to Europe to continue to study voice and enter singing competitions. Very quickly I was able to win several important competitions which led to an offer from an opera house in Vienna (Vienna Volksoper). So, I found myself at 25 moving to Vienna and starting a whole new life there. Had I remained in Canada, I think my life and career might have been quite different.
JS: What are the hardest things for an outsider to understand about your life as a person in the arts?
AP: I think people might not realize that it can be a lonely lifestyle – there is a lot of travel involved and often you are on the road alone for weeks or months at a time, away from friends and family. Usually people say that a career in opera must be very glamourous but I can assure you that the glamour wears off quite quickly!!
JS: Please tell us what you haven’t attempted as yet that you would like to do in the arts? Why the delay so far?
AP: My secret desire is to be in a musical either here in Toronto, NY or London. Musicals were my first love, way before I discovered opera. My idol was Julie Andrews. I recently did a Broadway hits show with orchestra and it was really satisfying!
JS: If you could re-live your life in the arts, how would you change it and why?
AP: I don’t think I’d change a thing. In fact, I do feel grateful that I am not starting out now as an opera singer. I feel the business is more competitive than ever and that talented young singers are finding it much more difficult to find and agent and find employment.
JS: Let’s talk about the state of the arts in today’s society, including the forms in which you work. What specifically gives you hope and what specifically do you find depressing?
AP: I am a firm believer that opera is not a dying art, contrary to what some critics say. People complain that it is an art form to be enjoyed by the elite/rich. Opera, which combines all three art forms – movement, text and music is, in my opinion, the “perfect” art form. It can touch us deeply and inspire and thrill us. As I mentioned above, I am concerned about the difficulty young singers are experiencing when trying to launch themselves toward a professional career. Cuts to orchestras, opera houses, even cuts to arts programs in the TDSB and throughout Ontario and Canada are affecting the health of the arts in our country and this will have a global effect. We all know that arts education and exposure to creative arts enhances our lives – it can benefit our minds and our physical health.
JS: What exactly do you like about the work you create and/or do?
AP: No one day is like another. There is a lot of change day to day in my work and change is good and exciting. I meet new people constantly and collaborating with new artists is exciting and rewarding.
JS: In your creative life thus far, what have been the most helpful comments you have heard about your work?
AP: When I receive comments like “your voice and your singing really moved me or made me very happy or thrilled”, they are the best compliments a singer can receive. To know you are touching someone through your voice/artistry is very special.
JS: Finally, what do you yourself find to be the most intriguing and/or surprising things about you?
AP: I am an introvert and I think this might come as a surprise to people who just see me on stage. On stage I have a “stage presence or persona” but this is not who I am in private. I am not a big party person nor do I like noisy events. I love to be in nature and I revel in its stillness and beauty.