Anna Netrebko Quotes

As an artist, I think you always have to take care of yourself as a person probably even more than the average person because your body is so important to your art.

I have spent my life paying attention to my art form, developing my art form, worrying about my show and what I'm bringing to people, making sure that I give them a fine trade.

I think that, to be an artist, you have to have a big enough ego to believe that people out in the world want to see what you think is a good idea. And if you don't have that sense of ego, then the minute that idea goes into the world, self-doubt kicks in.

Well, any time you do anything good, it's man versus himself, right? That's the art, the challenge.

I think for anyone who follows the 'artistic life,' a certain amount of selfishness and self-involvement is part of the package. You're probably already disregarding a certain material life you could have.

Well, in order for me to be successful... In order to be a great artist - musician, actor, painter, whatever - you must be able to be private in public at all times.

There was so much on 'Superstar' that we didn't intend. I mean, there were things that we did which were innovative, but some of them were forced on us because we couldn't get anybody to do the show. 'Evita' was much more sophisticated. That doesn't make it better, but it does make it different. We knew what we were doing.

I don't even listen to peoples' music… I'm really in-tune with my craft, I listen to me all day long.

All one's work might have been better done; but this is a sort of reflection a worker must put aside courageously if he doesn't mean every one of his conceptions to remain forever a private vision, an evanescent reverie.

I have always tried to put content in my work. It is a consistent challenge.

Direction or even production doesn't fascinate me at all.

Paintings don't just happen. I am not a proponent of the idea of an artist as someone who kind of magically makes things and has no real control or isn't willfully producing a certain kind of thing. It is labor-intensive, and it is research-intensive. You are making one decision after another, trying to get at something you think is important.

I can only control what I can, which is what I'm able to do as an artist.

You want to put on a good performance for yourself.

I'm trying to create ballets that I would enjoy seeing.

That's been kinda my secret. You use everything off the field to help make you better on the field.

I know what I do. I know what I put on film. I know what I try to do. I don't want to talk about what I've done.

I can say that I don't compete with others and only with myself because I do so many films.

Even though there is randomness and improvisation in my music, I want to have some concrete idea that I can hold onto.

It is the director's vision, and as actors, we are just extensions of that.

I know my game. I know what I need to get better at and be better at.

Every day the Daniels [Kwan and Scheinert] would come up with some amazing solution and [make it easy] to put yourself in their hands. There's something really lovely about knowing you're working with directors who know exactly what they want and exactly what they're looking for, and they're not going to move on until they have it. That, as an actor, frees you up a lot because you can [try different approaches] and they'll only use what's appropriate.

Nobody wants to make something that displeases people, but once you make a film, that's out of your control and you can't think about that. You just have to follow your head and make sure that you're satisfied by putting down what you intended.

The artist works with a concentration of his whole personality, and the conscious part of it resolves conflicts, organized memories, and prevents him from trying to walk in two directions at the same time.

Now I really make the little idea from clay, and I hold it in my hand. I can turn it, look at it from underneath, see it from one view, hold it against the sky, imagine it any size I like, and really be in control almost like God creating something.