QUOTES & INTERVIEWS

GRAHAM PUSHEE   "There are so many facets to learning a role and being able to sing it ... There's so many levels it operates on. There's the language, there's the technical level, the vocal, the musical side, trying to make it express something; you have to try and work on the language. You've also got the technical side, the acting side. There are so many things going on ... That's why opera interests me more than concert work." (thanks to Philip Williams. Source: Sun Herald)  "..... I don't think there's any countertenors who sound like women" (thanks to Philip Williams Philip) " ... ... but I do think about life after singing because you do have to be sensible" (thanks to Philip Williams Philip) Britten's "A Midsummer Night's Dream", Sydney Oct-Nov 2003 (Opera Australia production) INTERVIEW (october 2003) audio/video interview ('A night to remember .What happens when you mix Baz Luhrmann, William Shakespeare and Opera Australia? A magical retelling of A Midsummer Night's Dream. We spoke to Graham Pushee about performing in Opera Australia's latest production', Britten's "A Midsummer Night's Dream", Sydney Oct-Nov 2003) (source : Sydney Morning Herald) Text version Britten's "A Midsummer Night's Dream", Sydney Oct-Nov 2003 (Opera Australia production) A night to remember .What happens when you mix Baz Luhrmann, William Shakespeare and Opera Australia? A magical retelling of A Midsummer Night's Dream. We spoke to Graham Pushee about performing in Opera Australia's latest production' Graham Pushee talks about what it’s like to be in performing in an opera directed by Baz Luhrmann. Graham Pushee: "Exciting. It’s nice to see there’s a very clear concept, there’s a very clear idea as to what the goal of the production is, what it wants to achieve, what it wants to say, how it wants to look. It’s very well thought out, it’s very consistent within itself, and that’s the most important thing. Very often directors look at the actual play, and don’t actual realise that when it’s been turned into an opera, it has gone through a sort of metamorphosis. But this doesn’t happen here. There’s a really clear idea going through the whole thing. The concept’s very easy to understand and consistent and that’s really great, actually, terrific". Why do you think the role of Oberon was written for a countertenor? Graham Pushee: "I think countertenor being this sort of, for a lot of people, unusual voice type, this very high falsetto sound that a lot of people are not used to hearing, kind of creates a sort of abstraction, I think, and being King of the Fairies, it gives it a very sort of ethereal, exotic kind of otherworldly character, rather than just giving it to a tenor or a baritone or a bass or something, which would be fine but would be relatively “normal”, in inverted commas. Giving it to a countertenor gives it suddenly this very sort of eerie feeling to it and I think really suits the fact that he’s supposed to be king of the fairies, supposed to be other worldly, so the voice is this very sort of unusual sound that most people when they hear it for the first time sort of are a little bit taken aback because they’re not used to hearing a man sing as high as that. It’s basically the same range as a female alto but, of course, it’s a different color and a different quality of sound and that’s the thing that gives it that sort of special quality, I think, and suits the king of the fairies". How long does it take to become Oberon? Graham Pushee: "It takes about a half an hour of blue paint, and lots of shaving and shadowing and big wigs and long fingernails and all sorts of stuff, so it’s quite a process to get in and out of the costume. But the look is so exotic. And Titania’s world is very much pink and crimson and purple, and Oberon’s world is very much blue. So you’ve got that really contrasting pink and blue world of the fairy kingdom, with this very neutral almost beige creamy colour of the mortals, which is fantastic, actually, the contrast is wonderful".

JOCHEN KOWALSKI ".... I probably still want to sing for another ten years". (source: Der Spiegel -1994-. Thanks to Hans Muller) "... I studied six years long as a tenor at the Berlin Eisler college of music. I always had the voice of Fritz Wunderlich in my ears and listened my own voice recorded on a tape. There was an enormous gap. One day, I sang the Orpheus aria with a fellow student. The accompanying pianist said: My dear, you are a countertenor". (source: Berliner Morgenpost. thanks to Els) "One should not take everything too seriously, especially oneself" (source: Berliner Morgenpost - 1997-, Barbara Janiche. Thanks to Els)

DORIS NORTON ". .. for example (more than Cavalli's Orione) the 'Chi crede a femina, ne l'acque semina' from Cavalli's Calisto sung by Dominique Visse and the 'Se di regnar sei vago gia' pago e' il tuo desio e se vendetta vuoi di tutti i torti tuoi, da te dipendera' from Mozart's Mitridate Re di Ponto sung by Lavender / Marzio to Kowalski / Farnace; just with the same words ......" (Source: Web, cmputer & music. Thanks to Mark Letsch 'the engineer'. Hello Mark, welcome .... finally!)   " .... my preferred motto ? ... O beata solitudo, o sola beatitudo. Eius est nolle qui potes velle." (Source: Trend&People. Thanks to Els. Our Latin is a dog-latin: may anyone send us the right translation ?) --------- (By Cinzia the translation from Latin to italian: 'O beata solitudine, unica beatitudine. Chi puo' volere puo' anche non volere." and literal translation into english "O blissful solitude, unique bliss. Who is able to will , can also will not")    Excerpt from a Doris Norton interview (1994? 1995?). (original translation -Japanese to French- by Noriko). This translation (French to quasi-English): by Marilou for the No-Limits-Music Fans Club.   -Doris Norton answer (about preferred singer): " .............. at the Sydney Opera House, with a 'divina' Yvonne Kenny, a sensational/eccentric/haughty Andrew 'Tolomeo' Dalton, the kilometric Stephen Bennett, Rodney Gilchrist, Rosemary Gunn, Richard Alexander, Elisabeth Campbell. During the 'Presti omai l'egizia terra' I decided who would become my preferred singer: Graham Pushee. No more Peter Hammill, Robert Plant, Phil Collins ...... but Graham Pushee". -Interviewer: "Opera singer ????" -Doris Norton: "Yes sir, Whhhhhhhhy not ????"  -Interviewer: "You are an electronic (see your first albums solo) and techno musician (see the song '08 Rave' -for a long time on Japanese club charts- and the techno/european/cult song 'For You M*' composed with and for your son, and the 'Techno Shock' albums) and you like other genres of music too. Why? -Doris Norton: "Why? ....... I don't understand the question ...... the 'why' is so hard to understand when the 'because' is so obvious ........ BECAUSE EXISTENCE IS NOT A PUZZLE OF RESTRICTED AREAS; because I love the MUSIC and not only music; because I love vintage analog synthesizers (the Japanese modular Roland System 100M overall !), sequencers and drum-machines, the 'ancient' CV-Gate Evo and virtual, digital, computerized cyber-Era; Gregorian Chant, Handel, Mozart and Rossini; Led Zeppelin, Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, Eno, Vangelis; because I love Gotico and Barocco, Gaudì's Barcelona and Berlin; Salon deProvence, Assisi, Sighisoara and ... (!) Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi; the italian Cinque Terre, Rocca of San Leo, the land of etruscans, Nemi lake, the Marsica and ... (!) Cirneco of Etna; Iceland, Malta and New Zealand; because I love Ozu, Kurosawa, Dreyer, Riefenstahl, Pasolini, Fellini, Jodorowski and .... Jesus Franco; Aeschylus, Euripides, nature, visions, Apollo, Dionysus and ... Aristophanes; Caravaggio, Goya, De Chirico; Cecco Angiolieri, Dante Alighieri, Baudelaire, Leopardi; Pythagoras, Nietzsche, Jung and Bertrand Russell; because I love the 'against the grain' (original words: "a rebours") life, open minds and free thinkers; camp, kitsch, trash, cerebralism, intellectualism, mysticism and ... (!) xtra bitter chocolate with mint cream; the Decadents, Xtreme Trends and Renaissance; because I don't believe in absolute verities but in 'relativity' ...... and, more simply, because I love to produce 'Essence Of Life' distilling my EMOTIONS".  -Interviewer: 'Would you like to work with other artists ?" -Doris Norton: "In music area ? Yes, with Ann Murray or Graham Pushee; or with Yovonne Kenny and all the above mentioned cast"  -Interviewer: " Opera singers ?!?!?! ........ to do ?" -Doris Norton: "An electronic/computerized/techno version of ............" .

Baudelaire portrait (by Doris, 1973) - Private collection, thanks to mr.Xavier   back to interview	Doris Norton's dog (Cirneco of Etna) (photo taken from cover of album "Parapsycho" -1981-), special thank to mr.Xavier  back to interview

back to interview

Andrew "Tolomeo" Dalton back to interview	Yvonne Kenny (the "divina" Cleopatra) back to interview

This page is a work in progress and a group effort. We're interested in new material.If you ever had quotes and interviews of the above mentioned artists, just e-mail us

This site is a non-profit, amateur publication in no way affiliated with the artists above mentioned and no copyright infringement is intended. All material herein is copyrighted by the authors, except for the copyrights, trademarks, and patents of the companies mentioned. *If you see a photo we took without permission, email us and we'll remove it. *If you feel ofended for something here published, if we are doing anything wrong, let us know and we'll do the right thing.

HOMEPAGE QUOTES page DORIS NORTON: News -Biography Discogrphy -Photos Biblos-Pictures GRAHAM PUSHEE: News -Biography Discography - Photos JOCHEN KOWALSKI: News -Biography Discography -Photos LAURIE ANDERSON: News-Biography Discography-Photos MIKE OLDFIELD: News -Biography DIiscography - Photos