Yes, that’s true. It’s one of my most striking features. When I first began taking lessons at the Conservatory with my singing teacher, she was delighted with my voice and put a lot of effort into my training. I was very tenacious, very conscientious in my work and studies. I was always at the Conservatory. If a student didn’t turn up to class, I was there. If another girl was having a lesson, I sat in on her class to listen.

But you can’t make a career in music or as a singer overnight. A career in music takes a long time to establish and requires many years of work and practice.

There comes a moment in your life, after you have taken part in your first competitions, when you begin to think that perhaps there might be a future in the world of opera for you, and you decide to go for it. What motivates you at that point? What makes you fight for your future?

I’m a vocational singer. From a very young age, my voice progressed very easily. I believe it was all a series of events and circumstances. When I completed my professional studies at the Conservatory I was already working at a crèche. At the same time I had also studied childcare. I worked to be able finance my stay in Pamplona because my parents couldn’t really afford to. Then I was faced with the dilemma of staying in Pamplona all my life or taking a giant step forward. My original idea at the time was to go to Germany. I never considered the possibility of going to Italy. My teacher was German and she had directed me towards the German repertory. At the Conservatory we received more of a Germanic music education than an Italian one. We studied Bach. Mozart was everywhere. Then I made a decision to go overseas. People often tell me that my career took off very quickly. But you can’t make a career in music or as a singer overnight. A career in music takes a long time to establish and requires many years of work and practice. I only began singing professionally in opera houses after I won the Belvedère Competition in Vienna (1988). After that, doors began to open up to me on an international scale. At the time I was still studying in Germany.

The doors to the theatre opened up to you at a very young age. And in the world of opera it seems as though everybody needs the support of godparents, at least to get a start.