Laura Benanti Quotes

An operatic voice is like no other.

I've studied classical singing, but not to a great extent.

I wouldn't be me if my repertoire wasn't bel canto.

Franco Corelli is my favorite tenor.

Well, the teacher I studied with for nineteen and a half years was a man named Paul Gavert. He was a great lieder singer, so basically I'm a trained lieder singer because of that teacher. The teacher I currently study with - since 1995 - is Joan Lader, who also studied with Gavert.

My vocal style is called bel canto, which is an old Italian vocal style going back hundreds of years.

I love to sing, and I warm up to Maria Callas.

Very few opera singers in history have been able to cross into popular music.

Over the years, I was lucky; right from the beginning, I studied with a lady who had a lot of... she was a classical singer, and of course, they're a little bit more into, you know, preserving the voice, making sure your instrument is ready to perform.

I watch Renee Fleming a lot. I listen to Renee Fleming a lot. She was like my built-in master class.

Pavarotti's is the best male voice, and Joan Sutherland had a big voice but also acquired great coloratura notes.

For me, bel canto is medicine for the voice.

I do a lot of vocal warmups, which are the same warmups I did when I was a kid, because I had a few classical singing lessons and stuff like that, so I know pretty much how I'm gonna be once I get on stage.

I have so much respect for the big opera singers that I never dare to say I'm a singer.

I do not support that everyone has to be a trained classical singer to be able to sing in films but some sort of knowledge in classical space can take you to places.

I've been studying voice for quite a while, especially opera, for at least seven or eight years.

I'm under no illusion. There are lots of male singers out there with raspy voices.

When you do a 'messa di voce,' that means you start soft, you crescendo into loud - and then you go back to soft again. Some people call it circus tricks, but in bel canto, it's really written into the music.

I don't have a rock voice. I have to force it. I am like an opera singer.

The voice muscle doesn't last forever. I have a lot of friends who are classical and opera singers. My friend Beverly Sills stopped singing in her 50s, so I'm careful with mine. But I'll keep going as long as it lets me.

I wish I had given more time to learning classical singing.

When I was 11 years old, I wanted to sing Tosca.

I did classical singing at school. I did exams in that. I'd sing soprano, and we'd sing in German; we'd do Schubert for my pieces, in Latin, French... I really enjoyed that. I kind of miss it.

I sing 'Nessun Dorma' when I warm up backstage.

I suspect a singing teacher would have a fit with my diction. They'd probably think I was doing a very bad job.