When I turn up for my chat with Cristina Pasaroiu in the Deutsche Oper canteen, I find her at a table bearing the remains of a light lunch and a thick script marked »Les Contes d’Hoffmann«. Laurent Pelly’s production of Jaques Offenbach’s opera opens at the Deutsche Oper Berlin on 1st December and Cristina has just emerged from a costume fitting and is about to start the rehearsal. The soprano is singing all four female roles – quite an undertaking.
I’ve just been rehearsing the steps. In one of the scenes I wear a sort of doll’s dress, which is very stiff and weighs a ton. It would be difficult enough without the roller-skates.

Excuse me? Roller-skates?
Mmm, I’m on roller-skates most of the time. I started when I was four years old, so I’m not bad, I’m happy to say. As it turns out, all the skating has stood me in good stead.

Are we talking old-school roller-skates, as in the »Starlight Express« musical, or modern inline skates?
I use really fast blades fitted with silicon wheels, which means I have to watch out for the slightest unevenness and make sure I don’t crash into anyone else. It’s a good thing I’m the only one on skates.

Did Laurent Pelly, the director, know you were so good on skates and design his production with that in mind? Or did the casting come later?
As far as I know, the skating had already been decided. After all, there had already been runs in San Francisco and Lyons and they had the singers on roller skates there, too. What’s more, there’s a point in the Olympia act when I’m hovering high above the stage, swinging around and revolving. It’s almost as bad as being on a roundabout. I get this huge empty feeling in the pit of my stomach. But I have to say that it also helps me to be precise in my singing and focus fully on my voice and technique.

That sounds absurd.
It does, but it’s true. It frees me up in a way. I’m focusing on all the things I’ve got to do – voice-wise and physically – and at the same time I’m kind of freed up.

Let’s talk about the four women you play. This is your »CONTES« debut, right?
It is, yes. There have been times when I’ve asked myself what on earth I was thinking, taking it on. The roles are usually sung by four different singers; there’s no provision for one singer doing everything. I think Diana Damrau did it. But it’s a huge challenge doing it in Laurent Pelly’s version, where on top of everything else it’s so physically demanding.

In your profession you’re used to assuming different guises, but you must be taking that to a different level here, playing four very different women in the course of one short evening – the four women who encounter the protagonist, E.T.A. Hoffmann, in the various sections of the opera.
Yes, I’m pretty tired most of the time, but I’ll no doubt get used to that. This is my 35th leading role, so obviously I’ve got a bank of experience that I’m trying to dip into so I can do a half-decent job with this challenging project and act well into the bargain. And yes, the voice aspect is very complicated, the acrobatics are difficult, the technical side of the artwork, the high drama in the final act, and then the intimacy of the Antonia character as a contrast. At the end of the day it helps me to stay grounded and calm and to consider the lyrics first and foremost, what I’m saying, what I want to convey. It allows me to switch between roles easier and quicker. The version that this production is based on has a lot of spoken material, which helps, of course. On the other hand, it’s another thing to get my head round, another thing that I want to master completely.

Do you feel a special affinity to one of these four women?
I try to like all of them. There’s a risk involved in falling for one or other of them. I try to comprehend each woman. Ok, there are probably some superficial similarities between me and Antonia, but I don’t make a big thing of it. Giulietta is more temperamental, a kind of femme fatale, who reduces all the protagonists to their key functions. I doubt if I’ve ever played a more negative role. Olympia on the other hand is the perfect, cold, calculating acrobat. But with every passing day I’m discovering more about the characters. And each of the roles shows me things I didn’t know about Cristina.

What would you be if you hadn’t made a career in opera?
Oh, that’s a good question! A doctor, maybe? When I was a child I put all my dolls under the knife, and at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna you learn a lot about nurturing the vocal chords. I’m sure I would have been a good ear, nose and throat doctor, because I love everything to do with the voice and I want to understand every physiological aspect of it. Or I would have opened a perfumery. I love fragrances! But there’s still time for that. That’s what I really dream of doing!