Who or what inspired you to pursue a career in music?
I think I could sing before I could speak! From a very young age I sang to show my happiness and sadness. At home we always listened to music of different genres, from typical carnival music such as samba, bossa nuova (I was born in Brazil) to Russian folk music, which my dad loved.
But it was my mum that noticed my love for music and she sent me to flute lessons and then to singing lessons. Then I gradually started to sing for a living.
Who or what have been the most important influences on your musical life and career?
Elis Regina, a Brazilian singer, inspired me even before I started to sing. She’s still one of my favourites.
I have also been influenced by another very important singer, Maria Callas, especially during my early years of study.
Apart from the legend Maria Callas, all of my teachers and colleagues have inspired me and I am very grateful to them all.
What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far?
There have been a lot of challenges during my career and I value each and everyone of them. I don’t think that one challenge has been more important than the others.
Maybe the biggest challenge for me is to keep believing in myself and, believing that every single one of us has something to say. I do this through music and singing.
Which performance/recordings are you most proud of?
I am very proud of my latest CD HOMAGE (for the record label Drama Music), which was part of a project called Donne –Women in Music, of music composed by Brazilian and Italian women. Along with the Italian pianist Angiolina Sensale, we took part in the research of historic and contemporary composers from both countries.
I can remember a very emotional performance for children in Brazil, who had never heard lyrical opera before. Just to see their enthusiasm and curiosity filled me with joy and it is something that I will always treasure. It can’t be compared with any other performances, even the ones in important theatres.
Which particular works do you think you perform best?
I think that I am better in romantic pieces full of lyricism, where I can recite the part, enhancing the words as well as the music.
I have had a lot of satisfaction from playing Mimi in La Boheme (Puccini) and Desdemona in Otello by Verdi.
Even singing the cultured Brazilian music, that I have sung many times in my career, I feel at home and I think this way I can give more to the audience.
How do you make your repertoire choices from season to season?
I don’t always choose the repertoire, it’s usually the theatrical company that does that. Sometimes I’m asked to play a role that is already part of my repertoire; other times I face new stimulating challenges.
As for concerts, I like to add Brazilian music into my repertoire so that the audiences in Italy, where I live, get to know it.
Do you have a favourite concert venue to perform and why?
I don’t think I have a favourite venue but I do prefer theatres to open-air venues. I find the acoustics are much better and there is something magic about theatres.
Who are your favourite musicians?
Heitor Villa-Lobos, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Catarina Domenici, Cartola, Chiquinha Gonzaga, Leonard Bernstein, Cole Porter, Aretha Franklin, Mozart, Handel, Vivaldi, Puccini, Verdi, Maria Callas, Elis Regina, Stevie Wonder, Janis Joplin, Richard Strauss, Renee Fleming, Cecilia Bartoli, Anna Netrebko and lots of others, united by their extraordinary diversity.
What is your most memorable concert experience?
Apart from the concert for the children that I talked about earlier, I remember a wonderful concert at the Opera di Montecarlo in the Garnier Hall, dedicated to Italian culture. I will never forget that incredible evening!
As a musician, what is your definition of success?
I would say that true success is being able to do this job with dedication and curiosity; always trying to tell people something new through this form of art, respecting the composers’ wishes too but putting your soul into everything you do. Being able to do this is what I think we call success.
What do you consider to be the most important ideas and concepts to impart to aspiring musicians?
To believe yourself, to know how to listen and to take in all of the positive aspects, to be disciplined, to have faith even when things get tough, to understand that this is part of the journey and not the end, and last of all to believe in the passion you have inside – with joy and intensity.
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Maybe perfect happiness is to be able to express what you love and feel, freely and with dignity transforming it into art.
Soprano Susie Georgiadis was born in Porto Alegre, Brazil from a Greek father and German mother, but she lives and works in Italy. She has both Italian and Brazilian nationalities.
This extraordinary cultural melting-pot allowed her to develop an extremely wide range of musical interest. An artist with a great interpretation sensitivity, a stage presence of magnetic effect spiced with a warm velvet voice. Her exquisite musicality allows quite an uncommon eclectic use of her voice. Indeed her repertoire encompasses different styles: from classic and contemporary operas to Viennese and Hungarian operettas. Miss Georgiadis is passionately involved with the Brazilian classical music of which she is a sophisticated interpreter.
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