I’m an early bird. I get up at 9 or 10. That’s if I am not working. If I have a big performance the night before, I get up at 11. The morning is the happiest time for me. It brings new hope. Some mornings you wake up and life is miserable, but mostly I try to bounce out of bed. I am a happy person. I am fast, I am energetic, and I want to eat already. That’s the problem. Even if I am just finished I’m already thinking: what is there for lunch?

Breakfast I am eating a hot sandwich, like with the cheese, toasted. Or toast with peanut butter and jam. I cannot eat yoghurt. I hate this healthy stuff. Then I have a good coffee, the best is Lavazza breakfast blend that I make myself. I am trying to be careful with my weight, so the English fry-up — love it, can’t have it.

After that, I shower and do my own hair and make-up. I have to look presentable, even in places nobody knows me. The Russian women are trying sometimes too much: the high heels, the handbag, even the jeans — everything has to be perfect. I am messy; to be perfect is not my style. My clothes must be comfortable, and nice for breathing: opera singers are bigger here [the torso]. I have a fantastic wardrobe. These shoes are by Louis Vuitton, and the dress is by Escada, who are dressing me for events and giving me many clothes for free. I never have this feeling like before: “Oh, I don’t have anything to wear.” Now I think I do have!

If I have rehearsals, I am running because I will be late, probably. If I have a performance, the whole day is free. I go to see a movie, or to the museums. I am reading books, and magazines like Hello! and Style Watch, about the stars. I met some stars on the TV shows, like Shakira and Cameron Diaz, who was very, very nice. I met Robbie Williams. He was flirting, then in the papers it was all about how he steals Russian soprano, but it was rubbish. I have lots of girl friends but I’m definitely straight. I’m still big friends with Simone [Alberghini, the leading bass-baritone and her ex-boyfriend]. There was another boyfriend for over two years, and afterwards it was very painful. Lots of mornings I thought: “I don’t want to wake up.” Now I have a new relationship — he’s a wonderful, wonderful man and I am in love.

In St Petersburg I am living with a girl friend, Katya. Now she has a little baby, who lives with us too. This apartment and the ones in Vienna and New York I decorated myself. The one in New York is like Alice in Wonderland. Each wall is different: one has black-and-white stripes, one mosaics. The furniture is crazy. But I will not leave my country — I love the Russian people.

Lunch you must have, especially on a performance day. I’ve always loved food. I like Japanese and Thai. Vegetarian? Forget it! Lunch is usually pasta or fish. No garlic. I’m in close contact with my singing partners; it’s important to have a good breath. Some of the opera singers are Koreans, and Korean food, it has lots of garlic, it stinks for two weeks. Those guys — their breaths will blow you away.

I have no rituals before the show. I love being on the stage. If you have a headache, or feel depressed when you go on, you forget about everything. When I go on stage I feel a kind of sexual energy. The music is sometimes very erotical and to sing this you are using your whole body and it is… fantastic. The acting is important. The time when you could “park and bark” — come on stage and just stand there and sing — is passed. I know how to deal with my arms; this I learnt from the ballet dancers. And I was an acrobat for six years from the age of five. I don’t have one favourite role, but I do love Donna Anna [in Don Giovanni]. Some roles — like Traviata, Manon, Lucia — have everything, all the singing and acting.

I try not to perform the big roles often, because they’re very demanding. Though my voice has doubled in the past few years. It started suddenly to be bigger, because I was using the microphone between my tits!

On stage you are for the audience; it’s wonderful to give to people. When I come off, I am hearing this applause, they are giving back what you gave to them. Usually you have beautiful flowers — sometimes so many I cannot carry them. At the stage door are lots of fans and you have to be nice to all of them. I am not a vicious diva. I might be nervous or unhappy about my performance and then I just want to slink out. But I can’t be like that. The worst thing is I have to go to these huge dinners, with the patrons who are paying money for opera. You have to put on the dress, make yourself beautiful again. After, I am escaping with friends for dinner.

I want to be some place dark and cosy. You cannot drink before a show but after, yes. I like champagne and good wine, maybe a cocktail like cosmopolitan. You don’t want to leave, because you are getting exciting, drinking, and getting more exciting. Operatic performance is so energetic — there is no way I could just come home and go to sleep.

I sleep naked. When it is cold I am wearing the flannel pyjamas. I am a quick sleeper. If I’m excited or worried I cannot sleep. But not usually. I have fantastic dreams. Very colourful — I am definitely crazy, but it comes out in a creative way, so I chose the right profession.

I dream of a different life, so when I am waking I am thinking: where I am?

Interview: Beverley D’Silva.

Photograph: Frank Rothe

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