Join host Stefania Passamonte as she welcomes British spinto soprano Katerina Mina to the Future Classic Women Awards. Katerina shares her fascinating journey from promising concert pianist at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama to one of the most exciting voices in classical music today. Discover how a chance encounter on a staircase—where three people stopped her asking if she was a singer—set her on the path to vocal stardom, and how she made the courageous decision to switch from piano to singing in her third year of studies.
Katerina opens up about the incredible milestone of recording her debut album with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Žegor Žnovák. She reveals the grueling behind-the-scenes reality of 12-hour recording sessions completed in less than 24 hours, and explains the unique challenges of performing an hour-long program as a soloist against a full symphony orchestra. The album marks a triumphant comeback after a decade away from performing while recovering from a serious health battle, making it deeply personal and significant to her career. Hear her perform the beautiful aria ‘Io son l’umilia Ancella’ from Adriana Lecouvreur and learn why dramatic verismo roles perfectly match her powerful voice and artistic temperament.
Main Topics
Katerina Mina is a British spinto soprano with Greek heritage who specializes in dramatic verismo opera roles like Tosca, Manon Lescaut, and Adriana Lecouvreur
She began her musical training as a concert pianist at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama before switching to singing in her third year after being encouraged by her singing teacher
Her debut album was recorded with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Žegor Žnovák, consisting of four 3-hour sessions totaling 12 hours of recording completed in less than 24 hours
The album represents a major comeback for Katerina after taking approximately 10 years away from performing to recover from cancer and restore her health
Recording a full hour-long program with orchestra is significantly more challenging than typical 20-25 minute concert performances, requiring exceptional stamina and vocal control
She maintains her piano skills and continues to accompany other singers, with upcoming performances combining both singing and piano playing
A chance encounter at Guildhall where three people asked if she was a singer despite her being there as a pianist planted the seed for her eventual career change
Full TranscriptHello and welcome to Future Classic Women Awards with me, Stefania Passamonte, on Women's Radio Station, the program whe...▼
Hello and welcome to Future Classic Women Awards with me, Stefania Passamonte, on Women's Radio Station, the program where we search for the most amazing new female artists on the classical panorama. Today on Future Classic Women Awards, we will be talking to Katerina Mina, an amazing British spinto soprano with the Greek heritage. Hello, Katerina. Hello, Stefania. Thank you so much for this amazing introduction. I must say I'm very excited to be here, and thank you for the invitation. You're very welcome. What does it mean, spinto soprano? Spinto soprano is the lyrical spinto soprano. It's a slightly heavier voice than the lyric soprano, which has the possibility to carry the drama a little bit more in the voice without having issues with the voice. And so that the lower part of the voice is more powerful and the higher part of the voice is more powerful than the lyric soprano. So she basically is the voice that is able to carry through the drama. Absolutely. And it's like a— sorry, it's like a young dramatic. So let's say the roles that are for a spinto soprano are normally the one of a younger, um, characters. Yes, I mean roles like Tosca, Manon Lescaut, Adriana Lecouvreur, and, um, and the roles, yes, the, that, that fall into the category of the verismo opera, which again is to do with big emotions and quite earthy situations. And drama. When you started singing, you know, having singing lessons, did you think that you would end up being, you know, able to play these characters, or— Yes. You were maybe thinking about something more like Rossini, for example? No, I knew right from the beginning that the drama falls more into my sort of also personality and persona and my temperament, let's say. And I need characters that are complicated to sing, you know. I'm not— in fact, I will not do justice to a simpler character. I knew that from the beginning, but I have to say that I was a late beginner as a singer. I started off as a pianist and I trained as a concert pianist and entered the Guildhall School of Music and Drama as a concert pianist. Oh, wow. But the interesting thing is that when I finished my audition and I was going down the staircase, I was stopped by 3 different people asking me if I am a singer. And that was because I was wearing a long orange dress and a big scarf, and I just didn't look like, you know, an instrumentalist in that sense. So I had this in me all this time, but it took a little longer to decide to make the change. So what made you choose to become a singer and not continuing being a concert pianist? In the third year of my studies at the Guildhall, I was doing second study the singing and first study the piano, and I was a very good pianist. But then my singing teacher approached me and said, look, you have a very good voice, and this is the time to decide what we're going to do with your talents and which one of the two you're going to go forward with, because we have to focus more on one at some point as musicians. We can't be doing the same justice to both instruments. So I decided to audition in the singing department, and I did something courageous and brave to audition for the third year of the singers. Wow. So I entered, I was successful and entered the third year of the singers, and there was the change. And of course, it was like swimming in very deep water. It wasn't so straightforward and easy. It was a great, great challenge though, and I would never change that decision. Do you still play the piano? I still play the piano, and funnily enough, it's the first time now after all these years that I studied that I will be doing a concert next week in Oxford at Corpus Christi College, where actually I'm sharing a concert and I'm doing— I'm both singing and playing the piano. Oh, that's nice. But I'm singing with my accompanist playing for me, and then we swap. He plays the clarinet and I play the piano. No way! I'm really excited. So I started practicing seriously the piano again. Oh, that's beautiful. Playing Saint-Saëns and something else. And that is very difficult. It's difficult. It's difficult. But it's more difficult, I think, to do both, like play and sing, especially in the classical singing. So I have a big admiration for singers who can perform and play and sing at the same time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know that's something when I was little, I was watching the movies, seeing the people just going on the piano and singing. It's fantastic. Of course. How are you doing it? Yeah, great tool. Of course, I've been playing all these years and I also have singers I work with and I teach and therefore I play for them. I play all the accompaniments. It's not like my fingers are still Moving well. Yeah. Okay. So I want to talk with you about your debut album. It's this amazing album with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. How did you decide to record an album now? Yes, it is a very big highlight in my career of this year, the highlight of the year, together with something else we can talk later on. But I'm about a year and a half ago, two years ago, my agent at the time, who is based in the United States of America, he introduced me to the conductor of the album, to Žegor Žnovák, who conducted the album. And actually, he arranged an audition for me with this conductor, and the audition was organized at the Cadogan Hall here in London. And it was beautiful. It's really nice to do auditions in where the conditions are perfect. Very rarely conditions can be perfect in auditions, but I auditioned for Jägerl, and then we had a meeting. And he said, look, I think it's time that you record an album with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He's one of the conductors of the orchestra. And so I sort of laughed it off. I didn't even realize what he meant. I thought, I said, yes, maestro, it's a great idea. I'd like to have a demo. A recording of, you know, like 2 or 3 areas that I can also use to promote myself, gain auditions and that. And he just turned around and said to me, what are you talking about? We're not talking about a demo here. You're going to have a whole album. And that's how the whole thing started. And then, of course, I had to choose a program and lots of things around this big production. And the album was recorded last summer. So it was July 2017. But because it's released from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra's own label, it took nearly a year for the production to be finished. And it was released eventually May-June 2018. Wow. It has already received a very impressive review in the Post, in the in the press, in the London press, some very good reviews on Amazon. And I think it goes well. I'm happy with it. And I have to also say that because my career had an interesting road, let's say, I unfortunately had cancer after I finished my studies. So I had to take a lot of years out. A lot of time out, close to 10 years out to put everything, my health back on track. So this album is like a comeback for me. It's very, very important and it's very emotional. Absolutely. So from this album, what would you like to listen to? I think we can listen to one of my favourite arias. It's 'Io son l'umilia Ancella' from Adriana Lecouvreur. It's a very beautiful piece of music. Let's listen to it then. Io sono Miriam Chandler. Dead or alive, I will fight off all enemies. And this was "Yo son Lumi Lanchella" by Chile's Adriana Lecouvreur with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with Katerina Mina. We will be back after a short break. Welcome to Women's Radio Station, the voice of women worldwide. This is Women's Radio Station. You're listening to Avril Price with Kitchen Sink Spirituality. It's Anna Kennedy talking all things autism, and my guest today is Karen. Welcome to Future Classical Woman Awards with me, Stefania Passamonte, on Women's Radio Station. I listen to Women's Radio Station. Women's Radio Station, we want to hear from you. Women, the possibilities are endless. That's what makes us different. Hi, I'm Sue Openshaw, owner of Ferme de Ciel, the luxury ski chalet in Samois in the Grand Massif, France. We are open for skiing from mid-December to end of April, and we're only 1 hour from Geneva, so perfect for short breaks or longer holidays. Single or multiple bookings, contact us on ferme-de-siel.com or 077 33 100 020. Hi, my name is Julia Sturland. I'm a figurative painter in oil and watercolour. Please visit my website, juliasterland.com, J-U-L-I-A S-T-E-R-L-A-N-D, or phone or text 07986 563 552. Hi, I'm Valentina Barbacci and I'm the Executive Director of Media Matters for Women. We're a registered charity operating in Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and we produce and share podcasts via Bluetooth on mobile phones, focusing specifically on women and girls excluded from information due to extreme poverty. We empower those living in rural areas with media that transforms how they access, own, and share information. To find out more and be part of this this movement, come check out our website at mediamattersforwomen.org. Women's Radio Station is a not-for-profit community interest company. Supporting women is our passion. We're currently welcoming donations to help towards our running costs to keep this important initiative alive. To donate, simply head to our website. Every little will help. Hi, I'm Zina Mosconi, Head of Business Development at Women's Radio Station. Radio advertising is the most cost-effective way of reaching a huge audience globally. Moreover, our sponsorship and advertising packages can be tailored to your needs, whether it be a product or brand service you are looking to promote. If you are interested in sponsoring or advertising, please contact me on 07956 +49 71 483 or alternately zm@womensradiostation.com. Welcome back to Future Classic Women Awards on Women's Radio Station, the program where we search for the most amazing new female artists on the classical panorama. Today we are talking to Katerina Mina, one of the most amazing pinto soprano of the generation, of this generation. Uh, Katerina, um, we were talking about your amazing debut album. It's an hour of singing in front of an orchestra. So, uh, what's the difference? Can you help the audience understand the challenge of being in front, you know, holding a concert by yourself for an hour, or being in an opera, for example, in an opera production? Mhm. There Yes, they're two different things, of course. And the album was a different thing in itself because it is an hour's program, what you listen to. But actually, we had four 3-hour recording sessions. So it was a 12-hour recording session that actually they were most of them back to back. So people don't really know what goes on behind the scenes. Singing for 12 hours. And so the whole recording, the 12-hour recording sessions took place within less than 24 hours. And for an operatic voice, you know, that does that, it's extremely difficult and challenging to keep the voice going, of course, because it's also heavy repertoire that you listen to. And yes, you are singing with a full symphony orchestra. There's no microphones or things like this. There are only the recording microphones. And of course, you have to be at your best. But it's just one. It's you, the soloist, and against a whole orchestra. Of course, we have to think also of the musicians that play for all these hours. You know, their muscles also get tired, not just my vocal folds. But it's extremely challenging, I think, recording sessions, especially if they're so long and for a long program. On the other hand, if you were to perform the 1-hour program also back to back in a concert, that would be also very challenging. So what normally happens with symphony orchestras, they get in a soloist and perhaps you perform for 20 minutes or 25 minutes maximum, or maybe 15 in the one half and 15 in the other half. So there's no way you can do a whole hour of a program one after the other with an orchestra, unless of course it's an oratorio, oratorio where you have 4 soloists and a choir, and again there's interaction. You have some places where you can rest the voice and you don't sing all the time. The same goes for the opera. If you are in an operatic production, yes, and you are singing the leading role, yes, that's going to be also very taxing. There are some roles that you are required to be on stage most of the time, like Violetta from La Traviata, and even roles like Fior di Lici from Così fan tutte. Even if you're not singing, you are required to be acting and be on stage and interacting. So therefore, it's a different type of focus and concentration you need. But you do have more time to rest vocally. There is also a different way of using the voice, I think, by having the orchestra behind you or under the stage when you're performing an opera. Or having a piano, for example, just supporting you. Absolutely. So this is to do with the projection. Yes, it's quite hard actually to have the orchestra right behind you because the level of performing is the same and you sometimes you feel like you have to compete, you know, with the volume of the orchestra. But then again, if you're singing an operatic production and the orchestra is in the pit, there are other things. First of all, the theater might be a lot bigger. So therefore, again, you have to project more anyway. Yes. I don't think that there's a moment where you can sort of relax or sing with, like, off the voice, unless it's a recital that is in a smaller venue with a piano or only a few instruments. In fact, there, you know, you can relax a little bit more about projection. So talking about opera then, what would you say was your favorite role, or which one is your dream role? My dream role is Tosca. Tosca. Yeah, Puccini's Tosca. A very fiery woman. Yes, but at the same time, very sensitive, you know, and a woman that can sacrifice her whole being for love. And I find that my character is quite close to Tosca's character, and I really want to get into her shoes and do the whole role. I've done big parts of the role and have performed the Visi d'arte, for instance, many, many times with orchestras and with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra live also in a concert we did. That was the other thing that happened after the release. I performed the last night of the Proms program with them, which was a fantastic experience. Absolutely. And yeah, so Tosca was one of the arias I sang. Fantastic. And which one would be the funniest role that you can think of? I really don't know if there is a funny role I can sing right now. For a soprano spinto? For a spinto soprano? Yeah. It's done. I have sung Fior di Lici from Così fan tutte when I was a more lyric voice and with the coloratura, the dramatic coloraturas were there still. So Fior di Lici was a role I sang many times in different productions and it was quite funny, you know, within the drama of all that, it was funny. But yes, I cannot think of a funny role I can sing right now. I only love and will sing the roles that create tears. I love it. All right then, shall we listen to Tosca? Yes, please. Let's listen to Tosca, "Viscidarte," with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Katerina Mina. And this was Visite d'Arte from Tosca by Puccini with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Katerina Mina. We will be back after a short break. Women's Radio Station is a fresh new broadcasting platform driven by love and passion, connecting women around the world in a global network. It's all about diversity from opinions, career, ethnicity, education, We aim to show the individuality of every woman everywhere, providing opportunities and a platform for your voice. Women, the possibilities are endless. That's what makes us different. Hi, I'm Liz Van Linden, a UK travel consultant for Hazelmere Travel. People come to me as they want unique experiences and a personalized service. This happens from the moment that they inquire till they come back home. 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Welcome back to Future Classic Women Awards on Women's Radio Station, the program where we search for the most amazing new female artists on the classical panorama. Today we're talking to Katerina Mina, an amazing spinto soprano from Cyprus. You were born in Cyprus, right? I was born in Cyprus, yes. But you've been living in London for 25 years. So you're a Londoner. I am a London girl, yes. Not just a British person. You're a Londoner. I'm a Londoner. I love this city, by the way. It fulfills me in every way. Absolutely. So what would you say was the most exciting moment in your career? Hmm. Ah, let me think. There's quite a few exciting moments, but I will highlight a few actually. Like the first role you ever do, it's a very exciting moment because it's the baptism, you know. Yeah. And that was with the Polish National Opera, a very big house. And it was the second role in La Traviata. So I did Flora and then later on in my career I did Violetta also. But it was just, it's really exciting when you're thrown on stage to do your first role with a big company like that. And of course, then the first time I sang at the Megaron, at the Athens Concert Hall, also in a very big production of a symphonic concert with a Symphony Orchestra and the choir. That was also a very exciting moment for me. But then later on highlights was when I performed at Starmus Festival of Astronomy. It's an international festival. And I just ended up singing next to Stephen Hawking. Oh, wow. And yes, during the closing ceremony of the festival where Stephen Hawking gave a speech and Alexei Leonov also gave a speech. And it's just amazing moments in my career that are sort of different than the normal, you know. Yeah. And I feel proud in a good way that life and the universe brings these moments to me. And also, of course, this year, the release of my album was a very exciting moment. And just before that, in May, on the 16th of May, a performance I gave at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, where I was invited officially by UNESCO to open and close the inauguration of the first International Day of Light. So from this year, every 16th of May, we will be celebrating the International Day of Light. And I'm just so happy I was the musician chosen to open and close these celebrations and May I ask you, what did you choose to sing for such a special event? Yes, it was their choice, and it is one of the songs we're listening to today, later on, the Rainbow of Light anthem. I closed the celebrations with that, and I opened it with Look to the Universe, which is another song. Both songs are written by Linda Lamont, who is a British songwriter, and I collaborate with her for a few years now since Starmus, the festival I spoke about. About because she was in the audience. And so she fell in love with my voice and we started collaborating. And so much has come out of that. And talking of women, I do believe in the collaborations, the power between collaborations between women. And I have to say that another very exciting moment in my career was my collaboration with Rick Wakeman, who is a rock legend. All right. He was the keyboard keyboard player of Yes, of the band Yes, for many, many years. And he was also at Starmus. Okay. Festival, listened to my voice and then invited me to be one of his special guest artists in a symphonic concert he gave at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Oh, wow. So I performed with him on the piano and the symphony orchestra, and I sang Help by Beatles. Yes. The most amazing arrangement by him with using my operatic voice. Wow. Morning has broken. And yes, again, these are all very exciting moments also because they're a little bit out of the box. Absolutely. Yeah. And that's what it's all about, isn't it? I think in today's market and in this age, thinking out of the box and acting out of the box, it's important. Absolutely. And also within the competition that we have. Yeah. So what would you say to a young aspiring student or a younger self if you could go back in time? Yes, it's tricky. Let's say if I had a child, I would be very careful if my child wanted to go into this business. Yes. And I would really warn my child and I warn every of my young singers of what's coming ahead because the competition is very big. It can be quite unfair business in this market. There are auditions all the time, but, you know, things are already decided most of the times before you even audition. There are other factors that take place. There's a lot of sexism in the business. Absolutely. I have experienced it. I experience it every time. And I want this to end. I want to feel good about being a good-looking woman, you know, and a good-looking performer. Not think that this is working against me. It should work for my favor. But it's difficult. It's difficult. They have to be ready for— they have to have a very thick skin. Yes. They must have an incredible passion and they must know that this is their purpose. If you're not 100% sure that this is your purpose in life, I would advise the young musicians to do something else, gain another degree, and then go into this. So at least they have a fallback. A backup. Absolutely. I totally agree. I have— we've been talking before with other guests about the #MeToo movement as well. That is something that is quite strong. It's not really sad, but it is. There is still in classical music as well. And I think in any art in general, the main problem is that art is something that you cannot really, you cannot touch. So it becomes so much about something, you know, on the opinion of who is listening to you, who is deciding if you go through. Absolutely. It's also a matter of taste. Yeah, exactly. On the sound? So, I mean, to be honest, I think recording is a great test to it in the sense that you could have had all the help you want, but if people, the audience, really don't buy your CD, don't listen to you, is because there is not enough that is going to them. Yes. Although not everybody is able to express as much art in the recording as they are doing in life. So there's so many combinations. I know, there is this fine lines everywhere. But again, the good thing with recordings, of course, also is the fact that it's something that stays in time. Yeah. And it's there. And for me, for example, my debut album with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, it's a comeback for me. And it's also for me a passport that if I decided tomorrow to stop, singing, I would— this would have been for me the most beautiful gift I've done to myself, first of all, and to my art, you know. And as you said, it's an expression. It is nothing you can't— we can't hold on from something. It's an inner expression that, again, it doesn't talk to everyone at the same— in the same way. So there is a fine line. And when you go in for auditions, Conditions are never perfect. You have to perform with pianists, for instance, that, you know, they may not know the music, they haven't seen the music, or in a very small room or in a very big room or whatever. It is not perfect. Yet you have to make music. And that's why we're here, to express that and make music. If we can't do it, we better do something else. Absolutely. So I was very curious. You were talking about this concert you've done for the UNESCO and about this amazing song, Rainbow of Light Anthem. You recorded this song? Yes, in Manchester at Airtight Studios in Manchester. It was produced by Nigel Stonier, written by Linda Lamont, performed by myself and Nigel on various instruments. And it's a crossover song. It is. Yes, it is my first crossover that I did and I enjoy a lot. I use my voice. I don't change my voice. It's just a slightly lighter sound. And I'm open. I'm open to crossover. I'm open to anything that speaks to my soul. So I listened to the song. Linda played it to me and I loved it. So I said, let's do it. And then UNESCO chose the song to represent her, her to represent UNESCO's International Year of Light in 2015. And then they asked me to perform it live this year for the inauguration of the International Day of Light. So it's important not to turn away opportunities that you never know what might come out of it. If it speaks to your soul, I suggest do something about it. And I want to listen to it. Thank you. Through the bright stars and know who you are. The sky's a mystery, but it's all there to see. Things we do not know is the answer in the rainbow. Towards the vast space where humans have raced, neither reached us. Over runs a storm that goes with no end. To the moon, Whose we sang, though sad at the beginning, but the sun keeps on sending. Our rainbow light, a specter of our truth, bringing hope that we know And this was Rainbow of Light Anthem by Linda Lamont, sung by Katarina Mina. We will be back after a short break. Welcome to Women's Radio Station, the voice of women worldwide. This is Women's Radio Station. You're listening to Avril Price with Kitchen spirituality. It's Anna Kennedy talking all things autism, and my guest today is Karen. Welcome to Future Classical Woman Awards with me, Stefania Passamonte, on Woman's Radio Station. I listen to Woman's Radio Station. Woman's Radio Station, we want to hear from you women. The possibilities are endless. That's what makes us different. Hi, I'm Sue Openshaw, owner of Ferme de Ciel, a the luxury ski chalet in Samoëns in the Grand Massif, France. We are open for skiing from mid-December to end of April and we're only 1 hour from Geneva, so perfect for short breaks or longer holidays. Single or multiple bookings, contact us on ferme-de-siel.com or +33 077 33 100 020. Hi, my name is Julia Stirling. I'm a figurative painter in oil and watercolour. Please visit my website, juliasterland.com, J-U-L-I-A S-T-E-R-L-A-N-D, or phone or text 07986 563 552. Hi, I'm Valentina Barbacci and I'm the Executive Director of Media Matters for Women. We're a registered charity operating in Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and we produce and share podcasts via Bluetooth on mobile phones, focusing specifically on women and girls excluded from information due to extreme poverty. We empower those living in rural areas with media that transforms how they access, own, and share information. To find out more and be part of this movement, come check out our website at www.media-matters-for-women.org. Women's Radio Station is a not-for-profit community interest company. Supporting women is our passion. We're currently welcoming donations to help towards our running costs to keep this important initiative alive. To donate, simply head to our website. Every little will help. Hi, I'm Zina Mosconi, Head of Business Development at Women's Radio Station. Radio advertising is the most cost-effective way of reaching a huge audience globally. Moreover, our sponsorship and advertising packages can be tailored to your needs, whether it be a product or brand service you're looking to promote. If you are interested in sponsoring or advertising please contact me on 07956 371483 or alternately zm@womensradiostation.com. Welcome back to Future Classic Women Awards on Women's Radio Station, the programme where we search for the most amazing new female artists on the classical panorama. Today we are talking to Katerina Mina, an amazing British soprano spinto. Katerina, we've been talking about the most exciting moment in your career. What would you say was the most challenging moment in your career? Of course, there are lots of challenging moments within the career, let's say, when you're on stage performing. And when, for instance, when I performed at UNESCO in May, I knew that I had 3 minutes to show my best. You know, it's only one song to open an inauguration celebration and one to close it. The opening song was 3 and a half minutes. So you know that you have to be spot on right from the first note you sing. And of course, it's the same in everything you do. But if you have a whole role to perform, there is more time to warm into. To do the role, etc. Challenging moments are like this. If you have a very short period of time, you have to perform in front of a big public and do your best. Of course, rejection is very challenging in this career and profession. But, you know, when I think of what happened in my life when I was a student and I finished actually the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, I finished my studies, I did a 4-year undergraduate course and a 1-year postgraduate course and finished as a singer, started as a pianist, finished as an opera singer. And I did my first competition, the Julián Gallarre competition in Pamplona. It's a famous international singing competition where I was going through the rounds and I went there actually for fun. It was my first competition, but I found myself winning and going through the rounds and winning one of the prizes at the competition.. And so that gave me an enormous, you know, confidence to continue and do more competitions. And unfortunately, you know, in life we don't know what's coming next. We think that we are flying high up and we're, you know, very confident and this and this. We think we have everything planned in a way, but then life life throws a challenge, and that was for me the biggest challenge, the diagnosis of a rare type of blood cancer I had just a few months after I won this prize. So I will never forget that I had to cancel my ticket going to the Montserrat Caballé competition. I threw that in the bin and bought a ticket to go and start my chemotherapy. Receiving my treatments. So that was a very challenging moment because it just threw everything on the table down and I lost my confidence. I had to take time out to fix my health. Otherwise, I realized that without the health, there is nothing we can do. We want to do so many things, but if we're not healthy, if the body doesn't respond, And to be honest, to be betrayed by your own body is something that is a very big challenge for the human being. And I felt the betrayal for many years to come. Being so young as well. Yes. And the other thing was that the person who gave me my prize in the Julián Gallárez competition was José Carreras. Oh, because it was under— it is under his auspices. And it was interesting to find myself in the situation where José would send me personal letters of encouragement throughout my treatments because he had a similar blood cancer. And, you know, it's just so challenging when life throws something like this on you. I took about 10 years of a break from the career. And then the other challenge is coming back to it. The comeback is also a very big challenge. You've got opera houses saying, looking at your CV, saying, and what have you done? That is exactly the question. I had it, I remember, in many auditions. And one of the first auditions I did after I came back, And I felt so humiliated, you know, because it was a sarcastic sort of question. It was asked in a sarcastic way. But what have you been doing? And so I just took my wig off, you know, I just had to do it. This is what I felt. I took it off and I said, this is what I've been doing, fighting for my life, and walked off. So it's a big challenge. Even now it's a big challenge coming back to it. The opera houses, when you're not inside working from an early stage straight after college, they forget about you. Yeah. And then they make it so hard. And it's— In general, it's a work where they don't care about anything else but the fact that you have to be top of your shape wherever you are, whenever you're singing, etc. You can't say no. That's another thing. Nobody knows or cares if I have a cold, even the smallest thing, a cold or something. As performers, we have to perform and we have to be at our best. We, for women, we also have hormonal situations going on. And for the singers, they affect the voice. Nobody actually really cares. And it's sad. But in the case of an illness like this, I know that when I go into an audition and they know about my illness, I know that part of them is thinking, we better not give her a job. What if she's ill again? You know, but I, my answer to this is this: if I'm going to die tomorrow, I want to die on the stage. That's how big my passion is. Yeah, I don't care. Give me the job, I will deliver my best. And if it's meant to be for me to go, I'd rather die on the stage. This is how much I love this, and this is how I will never stop pursuing my dream. Never. This is extremely difficult for me and for the people who are around me, my mentors and who are supporting me, because any comeback after you've disappeared is difficult. But what is more important, I mean, what we get from your story is that there is hope. There is always hope. And if you really want it, you can still, you know, you will, you will do it. Yes. No matter what, isn't it? It's true. There is hope. I would say to the people who suffer with cancer that as hard as it is, this word cancer, we hear it and we go crazy and we think immediately, we think death. The thing is, if the diagnosis is early enough, in an early stage, and with the medicine, the way it progresses, it is possible to cure cancer. Yeah. We have to also put ourselves into other situations, like the people who suffer from heart diseases, diabetes, other diseases that you have to carry with you for your whole life, you know, and then you have to find a way to live with them. So cancer is not the end of the world. But of course, there are other patients that are luckier than others in a sense, in that the type of it. Yeah. But to keep a positive attitude, a positive thinking, to accept psychological help, to accept psychoanalysis through your cancer and the treatment It's very important because for me, it turned the coin around. And for the first 2 months of the intense chemotherapy I was receiving, my body did not respond at all. When in the 2 months they do a scan to find out your progress. Yes. My progress was zero. When we found out that, it was so devastating. And the hospital, the clinic then brought in a psychoanalyst who started working with me and my whole family. And that was such a blessing because I was so depressed that the medication wasn't working. Absolutely. It's just to tell people that we need to be in the right frame of mind. And there are times in our lives when we have to accept this help from the professionals. Absolutely. Absolutely. So what would you like to play to conclude our amazing interview? Thank you so much. And I think we can close with a beautiful song written by Ash Madani. He's an Oxford-based composer I collaborated with at the beginning of the year, and I recorded his album. And this is from the album, and it's called 'The Rock,' and it's written for acoustic guitar and voice as a vocalise. It's on the 'a' vowel. Wonderful, let's listen to it. And this was The Rock, written by Ash Madni and sung by the amazing Katrina Mina. If you have any questions that you, you would like to ask our guest or nomination for our Future Classic Women Awards, please email presenters@womensradiostation.com or tweet us @WomensRadioSTN for a chance to win 2 tickets at our concert of the finalists of the Future Classic Women Awards. A big thanks to our guest, Katrina Mina, for the great chat and the beautiful music played today. Thank you very much. Thank you. Such an honor for me to be here. The honor is ours. Uh, you have been listening to Future Classic Women Awards on Women's Radio Station live every day at 10:00 AM and 10:00 PM London time. If you would like to listen to it again or catch up on our previous programs, please head to my presenter page, Stefania Passamonte, Future Classic Women Awards on womensradiostation.com. Thank you for listening. Women's Radio Station is a fresh new broadcasting platform driven by love and passion, connecting women around the world in a global network. 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