When we reached her by phone, she had just landed in Berlin. A bit jetlagged, she was getting ready for rehearsals of Tosca and Arabella at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. After almost 18 years in Europe, Pieczonka moved back to Canada a few years ago. She now makes her home in Toronto with her partner in life and in art, mezzo-soprano Laura Tucker, and their four-year old daughter Grace. The two women met at the COC Die Walkure in 2004, where Pieczonka was singing Sieglinde and Tucker was one of the valkyries. Wagner seems to be a good-luck charm: Pieczonka has since sung Sieglinde to great acclaim at Bayreuth and the Met. Shortly after they met, Pieczonka moved back to Canada from London, where she had lived for 12 years. It turned out to be a felicitous decision. The soprano has managed something that is the envy of many of her diva colleagues: successfully balancing a high-level international career with personal happiness and a fulfilling family life. Since the last time LSM/TMS met the diva (The Music Scene Spring 2004), Pieczonka’s famous drive and ambition to be the best in her profession is now tempered with a newfound wisdom and a stronger perspective and focus on the most important things in life.

LSM: Since we last talked, your car­­­­eer has been one of non-stop debuts and triumphs. While some singers take the summer months off, you’re a staple in European festivals. How do you maintain such a hectic schedule?

AP: I have a wonderful family that gives me the energy and the desire to keep singing. I work very hard on my voice and my craft—you have to always keep learning. This summer is actually a bit of a departure for me; I don’t think I’ve ever been home in late May. I’m going to be home for parts of July and August for the first time in 15 years, and I love it! Usually in the summer I’m singing in Bayreuth or Munich or Salzburg. As I get older, the idea of having a bit more time off appeals to me. It gives me more time for family and to enjoy other things in life.

Would you say having a family and a child keeps you grounded?

Totally. There’s nothing against my diva colleagues who don’t have children. If you look at the schedules of Karita Mattila and Angela Gheorghiu, they probably perform more than I do; they are free to travel the globe. To be married and to have a child, you have to take the other person into consideration. It’s very rewarding—it’s no longer just about me and my singing and my voice anymore. I think I am less neurotic about my voice, always worrying about getting sick. Having a child gives us a lot of love… it’s been a wonderful blessing for us.

Singers often say that having a happy home life helps them sing better. Do you agree?

It makes sense. I can think back to the time when I wasn’t so happy and clearly your singing suffers when you’re not as grounded. I think it’s always a balance. You have to work on a marriage, to work on being a parent; you can’t be complacent and take it for granted. Nobody says it’s going to be easy. I do think our lifestyle is very challenging. I’ve been doing it for 22 years now… the life on the road with the travel and hotels… it takes its toll. Part of me wonders how many more years I will do this. Would I do it another 10 years? I think vocally I could, but who knows…

How does it feel to have two singers in the family?

Well, sometimes it’s challenging. We only have one piano and sometimes we have to negotiate: ‘ok, you’re rehearsing one hour and I can have the other hour… wait, who’s going to look after our daughter?’ I’m very proud of Laura. She hasn’t really had the career on the level, say, of me. She’s been the one making the sacrifices to be at home to raise Grace, to be the constant one. When Grace was very young, we traveled for the first two years as a family. Now that she’s in junior kindergarten, we realize that she misses home. We just came back from Italy; after 10 days there, we found that Grace missed her school. Laura and I love to sing together, and I love to accompany her. Sometimes it’s hard to give and receive criticism from a partner. I sometimes find it difficult to hear criticism after a performance, but in the long run it’s for the good. She has good ears and she wants me to be the best.

Do you have plans to sing together?

Yes we’ve done several recitals together, and we’ll be singing together in Westben Concerts at the Barn this summer. And in March 2012 in Seville, we’ll be doing Ariadne auf Naxos together. It’ll be Laura’s first Composer and she’s extremely excited about it!

Tell us about your upcoming concert at Orford and your collaboration with Kent Nagano. Were the Ariadne in Munich and Messiaen in Montreal your first collaborations with him?

No, our association actually goes way back in 2001 in Los Angeles, where he was music director of the LA Opera. I did Elsa in Lohengrin for him right after September 11; we were all shaken up; it was a very emotional time. I followed that with the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier and the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro. He’s really lovely to work with, and I’ll do Ariadne and Four Last Songs with him when the Bavarian State Opera goes on tour to Tokyo in the fall of 2011. It’s nice that he has invited me to the ‘Nagano and OSM Week’ at Orford. I’ve never been there and I haven’t sung in Quebec very much. I know it’s a very good festival, and the performing space is lovely.

What’s on the program of the Orford recital?

I’m doing something I’ve never done before: a completely German program. I’ll sing Schubert, Richard Strauss, and the Wesendonck Lieder, which I love very much. These songs fitmy voice very well, and I think it’ll be a very interesting program. Brian Zeger is my pianist. I’ve done a few recitals with him, including one at Roy Thomson Hall in 2006. I started working with him four or five years ago, when I started singing at the Met. I love working with him, but he’s very busy at Juilliard and at the Met, so I’ll have to make time to go to him. I’ll go to Ravinia this summer where he’s teaching to get some intensive rehearsals for the recital.

Congratulations on the excellent notices for your first Empress in Die Frau ohne Schatten. Did you enjoying singing this role in Florence? What other new roles do you have planned?

The Empress fits my voice very well. I was a little nervous at first since it’s very high—she’s got a top D, lots of Cs and C sharps. I did a lot of work on my technique. I felt it was a very healthy thing to do for my voice. Now with Tosca, those high C’s are no problem at all. But we encountered major problems with the general strike in Italy. Of the four performances, we only sang two. It was very frustrating as we worked so hard on the piece. I’ll do it again in Vienna in 2011 in a big revival with Franz Welser-Möst. Senta in Der fliegende Hollander is my next new role. Vocally Senta is a big challenge—very dramatic, particularly in the duet and the trio. Wagner wrote it when he was very young, and I don’t think he had the vocal writing fully figured out yet. When you compare Senta to Sieglinde or Elsa, she is more uncomfortable to sing. When I do a new role, I often think ‘oh, I’m not sure if I can do it.’ I think a lot depends on the production. I’m doing it in Paris with Willy Decker, one of my favourite directors. It’ll be a very interesting production.

On the subject of productions, you’ve done your share of “Regieopera.” What is your view on this approach? I seem to remember you liked the Don Carlo in Barcelona directed by Peter Konwitschny a few years ago…

Here in Berlin I’m doing two performances of Tosca and the revival of Arabella. The set is in some sort of parking garage with two cars on stage! For me, Arabella is about a Viennese family: it’s a kind of an old-fashioned piece that doesn’t really lend itself well to bizarre staging. I’ll have to try to make sense of it when I go to the rehearsals. I’ve heard a lot of comments about Konwitschny’s work, but I really had a good time in this Don Carlo. Somehow it worked for me. I’m doing it again in Vienna in April 2012 and it’ll be fun!

Saturday, August 7th at 8 p.m., Orford Festival, arts-orford.org
Adrianne Pieczonka, soprano, Brian Zeger, piano
Lieder by Schubert and Richard Strauss; Wagner: Wesendonck-Lieder

July 24 at 8 p.m., Opera arias and duets with mezzo Laura Tucker, Westben Concerts, www.westben.on.ca