The Times Magazine 11Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu,
56, made her debut at the Royal Opera
House in 1992. Her 17-year marriage
to tenor Roberto Alagna saw them
dubbed the Elizabeth Taylor and
Richard Burton of opera. She now
lives with her partner, Mihai Ciortea,
34, in Bucharest and Switzerland.
She has a daughter, Ioana, her late
sister’s child, whom she adopted.Everything good that happened
to me came from my parents.
They always supported me. My
father worked on the railways
and my mother was a seamstress- growing up in Ceausescu’s
Romania, I always had beautiful
clothes that my mother made.
i love the way English people
respect foreigners. I was a
foreigner here, but never felt like
one. In 30 years I have not had a
bad story. All the best moments in
my life have been in London, both
my artistic life – singing for the
Queen for her jubilee, for Prince
Charles at St James’s Palace – and
my personal life. Mihai and I got
together eight years ago after
a performance when he came
backstage with yellow roses.
Grief does strange things to
people. After my sister, Nina, was
killed in an accident 25 years ago,
my father became a monk in a
Greek monastery. Women are not
allowed, and I have not seen him
since. I spoke to him in July when
he turned 85 and he is happy.
I don’t agree with his choice,
but I have to respect it. Only my
singing relieved my own grief
over many years. Her daughter - our daughter – is my sunshine.
the stage is my home. I like the
dust, the smell, the sweat, the
perfume, everything.
i am not good with money.
I started over five times from
zero because my personal life
has sometimes been a mess.
Build another home, buy another
bed, c’est la vie. I always help
my family, my friends. When
somebody has no telly, I buy one.
roberto and i were so good in our
professional life, but we should
never have married. I was sincere,
but then everything changed.
Although on stage we always
What I’ve learnt Angela Gheorghiu
intErViEW Nina Myskow portrAit Dave Rushenstarted to be in love again,
everything was a lie in our
personal life. I tried to put myself
in his place, being a Sicilian.
There is more fire, more passion.
But I am Latin too. Two fires at
the same time? It’s not easy.
Vangelis is a genius, the father of
electronic music, a rare human
being. We are friends, and to
record with him is a gift.
i feel honoured to be called a diva,
although today it has not the
original meaning. I am a human
being who was born with a gift.I sometimes think I am the
prisoner of my gift. I need to
work for it; I am responsible for
it. So I am a “diva” as it was in the
beginning, thank you very much.
When you are an opera singer,
you are also an actress.
After I performed at a gala
in Washington I saw Meryl
Streep. I was about to say to her,
“Hi, you are fabulous,” but she
knelt in front of me and said,
“If I have another life, I want
to be you.” Imagine! In front of
all those people.the difference in age means
nothing. Mihai and I never think
about it. I can feel my age, because
I look in the mirror, but today if
you want you can manage it.
tell me not to do something and
i’ll do it. I am like a child when
you say don’t do that, don’t
touch that. nAngela Gheorghiu guest stars
as Juno on Juno to Jupiter by
Vangelis, out now on Decca
Records. She stars in Tosca at the
Royal Opera House in February‘After my sister was
killed, my father
became a monk’
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