London Cult.: Olga, can you tell us about your previous appearances at the Royal Opera? Is this your debut or have you already worked here?

Olga Pudova: It is my debut, but I have already sung in this opera many times – in Barcelona, in Paris, in Russia, in Germany at the Bavarian State Opera. I know the opera well, but the production version is slightly different here.

LC: How do you feel about the process of working here? Maybe your school of singing was different from the colleagues who have come to work here?

OP: We live in a world where everyone sings in their own way. The concept of belcanto is a little lost in the world at the moment. There are very few people who sing with the right technique. Therefore, everyone interprets it a little differently, and sounds differently. But there are people who are the most professional in technical and other aspects. I could mention Juan Diego Flóres, for example. And Ermonela Jaho is wonderful, and Alex Esposito. When you listen to the villains in every part, he is amazing. The rest of the cast are also, of course, wonderful professionals, but if we talk about technical aspects, then I think that I would probably note these three people, from the technical point of view, in addition to everything else. And it’s very nice that these people are still very artistic and give themselves to the stage as they should. And this is always heard from the audience’s reaction.

LC: How did you imagine your work in this Opera House will be? What did you hear about it? Maybe there were some, well, not prejudices, but representations of the role of the Royal Opera?

OP: I never imagined anything, had no representations. I didn’t have any idea about it, I didn’t hear anything. I came here with great pleasure, because Covent Garden is one of the most famous and leading theatres in the world. Of course, it is a great honour for me as a creative person and it is good for my creative career.

LC: Do you think that representatives of other opera houses have already come here to hear you sing? Do you think there will be a performance somewhere else for you in store, where you haven’t sung yet, maybe they have already come with an offer?

OP: I’ve already got an offer of a new contract in Covent Garden. Let’s see what happens next. I don’t know if there was anyone from other opera theatres attending these shows. We’ll know about this later, after the performance. God willing, it might be to La Scala where I haven’t done it yet. When you ask me what kind of place I would like to go to in future, my answer will be La Scala. It is important to find yourself in La Scala and the Metropolitan Opera House at least once in your career.

LC: Can you describe how the rehearsal of the opera is usually proceeding? As I understand, it’s a revival, not a premiere?

OP: It’s already a revival, although initially the first performance of this opera was supposed to be in Covent Garden. Unfortunately it was postponed due to the pandemic, because the contract should have been in 2020. Then our director Damiano Michieletto decided to produce it in other theatres first, so they put it in Venice and Sydney. There have been two performances of this prosecution in Venice and in Sydney, Australia. So, in fact, it’s a revival, but for Covent Garden it’s a new performance.

LC: Have the singers and the director been in some kind of rehearsal space for a long time when rehearsing? Did it take long to prepare this opera?

OP: Of all the singers in our cast, only Alex Esposito has already done this performance in Venice. Therefore, he was immersed in it more than we all, and knew it by heart. And for all of us, this is like doing a new performance from scratch, since no one has ever participated in this version of it. The only materials we had were photos and some video recordings. If you need to see some small details, then you can see them on videos and photos of previous performances. Our Eleonora, the main assistant of Damiano, she does a great job, she is a phenomenal director herself. She is always showing you everything, explaining things, she notes the thinnest and smallest details. She is a professional of the highest level and works with pleasure. If there were any questions, we could always consult the recordings of the performances in Venice and Sydney. And so it was all from scratch for us. Naturally, she explained everything to us, as we were putting the show together.

LC: But nobody advises you how to do things vocally, do they?

OP: They tell you about your role, how it should be. The directors basically don’t tell you anything about vocals. When we talk about the rehearsal process, it’s only about who goes where, the actual stage action. I think that Covent Garden is such a theatre that when they invite singers here they understand what level of singers they need, and these singers don’t need a vocal coach. We always have a language coach who is perfect, who improves the vocal technique of a new language, depending on what opera we perform. We always had our French assistant Sonia with us. As I understand, she has also been a singer. She was very good at showing some details to everyone, absolutely everyone, even to French-speaking people. So I definitely improved my singing in French, yes.

LC: I wanted to ask about the stages of a rehearsal process. The first one involves singing when sitting – Sitzprobe, then comes standing and moving on stage, right?

OP: No, we didn’t do the sitting stage but immediately moved on to moving and working. It is quite simple. We come to rehearsals, we are called, we do it. First the prologue was done, then the first act was done, then the Olympia’s moments. When you come, the director explains to you the essence of his vision of the plot, what should be where and why, what movements you should do. All this is justified with some explanations, using elementary logic. We go to work, we make our parts work together. Then the orchestral rehearsals begin, then several rehearsals on stage, with orchestra and stage performances from all singers, then comes the general with costumes.

LC: There are a lot of tricks and gags in this production of ‘The Tales of Hoffmann’. Like the one when you collect the hula hoops and then put them all on the astounded Hoffmann, also the moment when all the numbers fall from the ceiling on chorus and you. What were the challenges of doing all that?

OP: I’m always interested in challenges. I must say that in this performance those were real challenges, because there is a lot of movement in it. I was most interested in the fact that it turns out that there is a real difference between the movements of the doll and the movements of the robot, because in this performance Olympia is a robot. She is a robot, she is not just an empty doll. She is very smart, she counts quickly. Therefore, the whole aria is accompanied by numbers. And the fact that she draws them in the air is important. And, of course, such moments when some difficult vocal moments and vibrations of the voice need to be performed. And at this moment 30 hula hoops hang on me, that’s indeed challenging. Of course, it was interesting for me to understand how to cope with it. Thank God, I coped and everything is fine.

LC: Did you need time to adapt to this walk to be able to sing at the same time?

OP: No, I never pay deliberate attention to such physical things, because I just tell myself, ‘You are a robot’, and I start moving like a robot. This is probably already some old school talking in me, my knowledge from student years, when I was learning acting skills in the Conservatoire. The most important thing is not to learn to move like a robot, but to make yourself feel like a robot inside, then all your movements will correspond to this sensation. Now people don’t sing like singers used to sing in the past. Those singers just needed to open their mouths. They expressed everything with their heart and soul, doing some minimal movements on stage. And now we live in an extreme age, people need a constant show. So if a singer can sing well, and do some vocal equilibristics, and perform some incredible movements on stage, it will make people feel you all are up for such challenges. For instance, Ermonela Jaho, besides being a singer, is also on crutches, and has to do many physically strange movements apart from singing.

LC: Incidentally, this even seems to be the main theme of the production – the struggle between the various physical limitations the characters have and their desire to love and be loved.

OP: I can honestly say that this is my first performance of ‘The Tales of Hoffman’ where I feel not just doing a small part where my character comes out, does something and leaves. I somehow saw this opera in a different way thanks to this performance, just looked at it in a different way, and fell in love with it. I really like the idea that Damiano came up with to immerse Hoffman in different time frames. Olympia is his school period, Antonia is him being a young man, and with Juliette he is a mature man. In the prologue and epilogue he is an old man with grey hair, lonely, broken, drinking absent, here everything comes to a psychological conclusion. And everyone from his dreams and memories, his most important stories come to him in the end.

LC: You perform in a very star-studded cast. Could you describe the interaction between all of you?

OP: We have been rehearsing from the very first day. The feeling from all my colleagues is as if we have been working together for 100 years. Juan Diego Flórez, despite being such a star, is very simple. He is an open and free person who sees everything, understands everything, respects the professionalism of other people. And Ermonela. We have already worked together with her in Barcelona, we sang the Tales of Hoffman but in a different setting. She is wonderful. And there were no problems at all, no prejudices at all from anyone. We work together beautifully, and outside of work we also spend time sometimes, and we can hang out together. We always joke with each other, the sense of humour is everything.

LC: How do you interact with the conductor during the performance? How much does he influence the show? Do you have to see him all the time?

OP: The conductor, as I like to say, is a collective image (laughs), as he has to collect everything and everyone on stage and in the orchestra. We have a great relationship with the conductor, with our Antonello Manacorda. I know Antonello well. We have worked with him more than once. He is a wonderful conductor who always listens to the singers and follows them. There are moments when you go to the stage and you don’t see him, as you are doing your movements. He doesn’t need to see me. He is a highly professional person who has a wonderful intuition. We even discussed this topic with him. There are moments when he said, ‘You don’t need you to look at me’. And I say, ‘I can’t look at you at this moment. The main thing is that I have to feel and understand you’. I always enjoy the fact that both the orchestra and the conductor often tell me that I am so convincingly expectable in my role that it is always clear in advance what will happen at the next moment. So one could say I am a predictable singer, in a good way, yes.

LC: You said that you knew a lot about the Royal Opera when coming here, that it is one of the largest opera houses. Did you see the life of this institution from the inside?

OP: Yes, of course. Everything works as in all theatres in the world here. The level of the theatre is simply deriving from the quality of these processes. I have worked at the Mariinsky Theater for many years, and there the costume and dressing team, the make-up artists and all other departments, all the work is done at the highest professional level. So since I am used to a very high level of professionalism, there is nothing surprising for me here. On the contrary, I only got the confirmation that the Royal Opera is one of the greatest opera houses in the world. But the opera house is great not because of its internal structure, but because of the singers who worked here. And when Covent Garden acquired its name, it was acquired thanks to the greatest singers and conductors, as it was the case also with La Scala, Covent Garden, the Met. These opera houses gained their fame thanks to the great singers, conductors, and musicians who worked there.

LC: You have already mentioned that the opera world is international, but you perform now mainly for the British audience, although there might be some tourists in the audience, as well. Does it differ from the audiences in other countries?

OP: I think the audience is different everywhere, but there is one thing that always works 100% with any audience in the world. If you are sincere, real on stage, if you come to the stage to bring people joy, to fill the hall with pleasure, it always works. The audience is wonderful, they expressed their joy and admiration through the whole performance. There were always ovations after the performances.

LC: Tell us about the features of this show, for those who have not seen it, or maybe have not paid attention to some of its details, what would you like us to pay attention to as viewers?

OP: I think that there are very interesting ideas in every part. For example, with Olympia, she is not a doll, she is a robot, a smart robot, which always counts, which has a processor in its head. In the part with Antonia, there are very interesting moments as she is not just a singer, she is also a dancer. There are very beautiful elements with ballet elements throughout all the parts. All the little girls are wonderful. And in the third part there is a completely amazing moment when Hoffman remains as the reflection of the mirror – it is as though the soul remains in the reflection of the mirror, and the body falls out of it. One should also take notice that the devil breaks something in every part, there is special symbolism in it. In the ‘Olympia’ part he breaks the doll, then he tears the cello apart, and in the third part he takes the body with him. I also like the idea in our production that Niklaus is a bird, and no one actually sees him. Hoffmann talks as if he were talking to a parrot. But in fact, no one hears Niklaus apart from him. It’s absolutely obvious how light and darkness fight in every person. Light always tries to save you, and darkness always drags you to the bottom. This is a temptation to life for every person, and it can lead us to either failure or victory. Even if the Devil leads you to failure, he gives you the opportunity to learn something.

LC: Do we need to read the short stories by Hoffman that are included in the libretto to understand the characters? Do we need to know about the literature that is part of this opera?

OP: In general, of course, it is a good idea to know Hoffmann’s stories, but in general opera this is a different work, so reading Hoffmann will not tell you everything about this particular opera. Very often operas diverge from their literary source, so knowing the stories may not help too much in understanding this opera.

LC: We know Offenbach as the author of numerous operettas, why do you think he wrote only one opera?

OP: ‘The Tales of Hoffman’ is Offenbach’s only opera. I think it would take the leading place if he hadn’t died before he finished it. I don’t know much about Offenbach’s experience. Why did he decide to write the opera? I think he just wanted to do something very serious at the end of his life. It’s a very deep and serious work. And the music is very good. Especially in the part with Antonia. There are places with amazing scenes, amazing moments, wonderful lyrical duets. And their duet when they are together. There are amazing places also when the devil appears. It’s really like a thriller movie, you know, the real feeling of horror is created then.

LC: What will you take with you when you go home? Which moments will stay with you forever?

OP: I think that everything I will remember, I will take with me. The very fact that I have sung on stage at this opera house and have enjoyed this wonderful reception, it is already in my head for the rest of my life. The social media hype is the last thing I pay attention to, although in our modern world it would probably be worth dedicating more time to it. I’m very far from it all. I don’t know why. I don’t get the excitement of having a million likes for a video. This is probably also some kind of pride talking in me. Because even my friends from America have already written to me, saying that his friends were at the show and asked him if he knew Olga Pudova. Such moments are very pleasant. I always think that the most important thing for me is not what people say about me, but that people have a lot of impressions after my performance. But still, the most important thing is that I have a lot of impressions also.

By the way, given my heavy make-up, I am rarely recognised, but suddenly yesterday a woman recognised me – ‘Oh my God, you sang Olympia? Is it true you’re alive? Are you not a robot after all?” My agent sent me some reviews, and almost all the critics write about crystally clear vocal performance. For me as a coloratura soprano it is very important, you have to master your voice so that every note hits the middle, so that there is perfect purity, otherwise all this equilibristics makes no sense. Even one note can spoil the impression, and sometimes, unfortunately, it does. At the moment when I have to do the variations, high notes are not difficult if they are technically embedded in the body. You have to control them, fix them so that they are part of your breath. Yes, I was very pleased when they wrote about the purity, the icy, crystal purity of the voice, and in several reviews they wrote that she moved in a way that it was impossible to believe that she was human. The moment when Olympia crashes into the wall was my idea – and it turns out to be very funny, as we see the devil manipulating her like a boy driving a car. But it was difficult to calculate the movements precisely to get her out the door at the right moment, so I suggested that before she leaves she crashes into the wall – and I can hear a lot of people laughing at that moment.

LC: Olga, what else would you like to sing in the future that you haven’t mastered yet?

OP: I would like to sing in ‘The Tsar’s Bride’, ‘A Life for the Tsar’ in Russian repertoire, from the world opera parts I would like to do Juliet, both in Bellini’s and Gounod’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’, I would very much like to sing Massenet’s ‘Manon’, Ophelia in Thomas’s ‘Hamlet’, it is very beautiful music, but it is currently not staged anywhere in the world. We live in a world of agents, they decide everything, I can’t offer these parts to opera houses myself. All theatres have a planned repertoire, and the task is to find singers for that repertoire, so more often than not they invite you to sing in something you’ve performed before. But we’ll live and see.