(Photo: Dario Acosta)

In March, American soprano Jacquelyn Stucker will be performing in Philip Venables’ “We are the Lucky Ones” at Amsterdam’s Opera Forward Festival. OperaWire will be interviewing her about the production during the festival, but as a taster, she kindly agreed to answer a few questions about herself.

OperaWire: How old were you when you saw your first professionally staged opera?

Jacquelyn Stucker: 20 years old.

OW: Which opera was it?

JS: “Die Frau Ohne Schatten” at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

OW: What role will you be playing in “We are the Lucky Ones” in Amsterdam?

JS: All the roles are separated by tessitura and range. I am playing role 2

OW: This is the first time you will visit Amsterdam. What are you most looking forward to doing or seeing outside of the opera?

JS: I would like to see a concert at the Concertgebouw.

OW: What is your next role after Amsterdam?

JS: I will be singing the Countess in “The Marriage of Figaro” at the Met.

OW: Which role that you have played is your favorite?

JS: Lucia de Nobile from Adès’ “The Exterminating Angel.”

OW: Which role would you most like to sing, but so far have not yet had the opportunity?

JS: Mimi, but in a production in which capitalism is the enemy. In the wrong type of production, I would not be very compelling.

OW: Which role that you will never essay, would you most like to perform?

JS: Richard Strauss’ Daphne.

OW: If like Daphne, you were turned into a tree, what type of tree would you like it to be?

JS: A tree with a red autumn blaze.

OW: Which character that you have met on stage have you most disliked?

JS: Argante from “Rinaldo.” He never gets anything done. He is so inefficient, and I don’t like that.

OW: What is your favorite book?

JS: “Love in the Time of Cholera” by Gabriel Garcia Márquez.

OW: Who is your favorite painter?

JS: Egon Schiele.

OW: What is your favorite piece of non-classical music?

JS: “In Rainbows” by Radiohead.

OW: What is your favorite food?

JS: An American brand of cottage cheese called ‘Friendship.’

OW: Where do you most like to go on holiday?

JS: Chicago.

OW: Do you have a tattoo? If so, what is it?

JS: Yes, I do. It is the handwriting of my family members.

OW: Who is your favorite composer?

JS: It is a tie between Alban Berg and Thomas Adès.

OW: If you could invite three people to a dinner party, at least one of which has to have a connection with opera, who would they be?

JS: Michelle Obama, Anna Moffo, and Sabrina Carpenter

OW: If you were not a singer, what career would you have liked to have followed?

JS: I think I would have become a lawyer.

OW: Which two adjectives best describe your personality?

JS: Earnest and chaotic.

OW: Who has had the biggest influence on your career?

JS: Dawn Upshaw. She taught me how to think about music from a composer’s or an instrumentalist’s point of view in a completely different way.

OW: Who is your favorite opera singer? They can be alive or dead?

JS: Diana Damrau. She can sing anything. Her sense of style is incredible. I would love to meet her one day.