Page 52 - Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Coverage Book 2023-24

“I also realised that Bulgarian artists don’t have good self-esteem. So I started this magazine,

Bulgarian Artist, where they can talk about themselves and express their opinion. I discovered

that a hundred years ago there was a magazine with exactly the same title and aim. It was a sign

that I had to do it.”

Where do Bulgarian artists stand in relation to Russia and its invasion of Ukraine? “No one

wants that war and more and more people are condemning it,” Yoncheva says. “But it’s
complicated. We are a divided society. It’s only 30 years since the end of the Soviet regime and

obviously Russia has had a huge influence on the country.”

What prompted her to write Fifteen Mirrors? “Someone said to me, ‘You should write your

autobiography,’” she says. “I replied: ‘I still have so much time to live. Maybe let’s wait till the

end.’ On the other hand, I have so much to say about these women in opera. I am inside their

skins every day. When I step off the stage after playing Butterfly I feel like a squeezed lemon —

it has wrung every emotion from my heart. That’s why I called the book Fifteen Mirrors. I
looked in the mirror and saw 15 different reflections of myself.”

From every character? Surely she could never do what Tosca does: pick up a knife and stab a

man to death. “Oh, you think not?” Yoncheva says, laughing. “At home my husband always

says, ‘Which character is talking now?’ I do identify with Tosca in a way because she cannot

imagine ever being Scarpia’s lover. She believes in true love and chooses death because she

can’t think of living without the man she loves. That says everything. She has integrity. Maybe
in today’s world her life would play out differently. You know, just fall into Scarpia’s arms,

problem solved.”

What about her latest album, The Courtesan? Doesn’t its title only emphasise how often women

are portrayed as prostitutes or temptresses by (invariably male) composers, then killed off as a

sort of moral punishment for their free spirit? “Yes,” Yoncheva replies. “It’s shocking to me

how often, in opera, when a courtesan decides to love like a normal person she’s condemned to

death. But I can’t help thinking that the life of a diva is very similar.