Mozart\u2019s Marriage of Figaro is in the soprano\u2019s DNA, but she\u2019s never thought about directing it. Creating her own production has been daunting and fascinating \u2013 and her son\u2019s building blocks even helped<\/p>\n
I am not one of those performers who has spent their life on a theatre stage or film set thinking, \u201cI wish I could direct this\u201d. However, earlier this year, I found myself with an unexpected six-week gap. A scheduled project had been delayed for technical reasons, and it was at this time that Wild Arts\u2019 producer Max Parfitt asked how well I knew The Marriage of Figaro.<\/p>\n
I have lived with Mozart\u2019s opera for as long as I can remember. Susanna\u2019s \u201cDeh, Vieni Non Tardar<\/a>\u201d was one of the first major arias I sang, aged 12 or 13, while studying in Los Angeles. Later, I wrote my final high school paper on Figaro, the adaptation from Beaumarchais\u2019s play to Da Ponte\u2019s libretto. I even translated the entire score word for word, which is probably why I still know it so deeply. My Metropolitan Opera debut at 19 was in Figaro, singing Barbarina. I performed my first Susanna on the same New York stage a few years later, and I\u2019ve since sung the role many times all over the world.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/2cd5e75d633193bea257c49928d3f3b490a9ee1d\/1551_843_5556_4445\/master\/5556.jpg?width=140&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=629165e8b35a60e3fd51cfb1669ee357\" "\\"\u2018What\u2019s")
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