Below is the full transcript from the Yahoo! Chat with Beverley Bergen, Monday December 18th:
y_chat_diva: Hello everyone!
y_chat_diva: Welcome to Yahoo and to our chat with Bravo's Aria & Pasta star Beverley Bergen. She's here and ready to chat with you. We'd like to welcome Beverley to Yahoo! Chat. Hello and welcome
beverley_bergen_live: Thanks very much!
y_chat_diva: Can you give us some background on yourself and how you got involved in Aria & Pasta?
beverley_bergen_live: Well, I had had a career in opera and concert singing myself, over a period of 20 years. And decided that I had had enough
and was searching for something else to do. My daughter is an actress in Los Angeles, so I knew a lot of industry people through her and started feeling my way through the idea of perhaps doing something again in television. And the bizarre thing is that I actually dreamt the idea for the program.And took it to a television company that I knew about and they were very enthusiastic and I started to develop the idea seriously. And here we are on Bravo! It's very exciting.
hbdelpilar asks: Beverley, I saw your show on Bravo, and I think it's great. Was it your idea to come up with this unique format?
beverley_bergen_live: Yes, it was. I developed the project. I have a business partner in Sydney.We work as Passionfruit Productions. We obtained a pre-sell from Bravo. It's gone to air on FBF, which is our wonderful independent arts network here. The next step is selling the project to the U.K. and Europe.
y_chat_diva : Does the reality beat your dream image?
beverley_bergen_live: Oh, yes.Absolutely. You've already seen the episode with Renata Scotto, which we filmed on the Mediterranean, the Italian Rivera and that was really the dream. That episode. So ... yes, that episode in particular is very dear to me because it's very much as I expected it to be, in an ideal world.
y_chat_diva: How fabulous.. you get to hang out with people you like, eat great food and go to great places!
beverley_bergen_live: It is a great job, but is actually hard work as well. I have to wear 2 hats because I'm also one of the 2 producers of the program along with Bravo, and also the hostess of the program. The easy bit for me was touring on the road. All the singers LOVED making the program. They all get rather media weary, but all of them without exception have said what fun they have. So maybe we bring a smattering of Australian charisma to the media. There's a laid-back way we function down here that translates to a relaxed program. It looks like that. it looks like people are having fun.
y_chat_diva: To ask a question of Beverley, host of Bravo's Aria & Pasta -- you've got to type your question into the "Ask a Question" box
longnhard22657 asks: where do you currently reside and why
beverley_bergen_live: I live in Sydney, which is ... as you're all aware ... is a wonderful international city. It has, I like to think, a lot of the buzz of New York. It's very cosmopolitan. We have some of the finest restaurants. Some of the best restaurants and best chefs in the world working here in Australia. I live 10 minutes from the center of the city and as I'm talking to you now I'm looking out on a canopy of green. I live facing a wonderful park in a very "trendy" area of Sydney called Paddington. And we have wonderful, sharp restaurants, little boutiques. It's a charming area. And I'm only 10 minutes from the Bondi beach. With the natural beauty of landscape, nobody lives that far from the water. We think we have everything, really. It's that perfect city. It's very nearly the perfect city. I'm told that Vancouver is close. And San Francisco ... we filled Bryn Terfel Castle in the Napa Valley there - that episode -: and it was very wonderful to be in that part of the world.
neoman11702 asks: what is your favorite opera?
beverley_bergen_live: Oh, golly. I used to say it was the one I was currently working on ... always the favorite ... it's a difficult question because in my career I sang from Pucci Puccini to Verdi to Shostakovitch Puccini is a great man of the theatre. It was interesting talking to Renata because she had made a feature in her career of singing the Puccini heroine. So we had a very good bonding time talking about life and art and having a lovely time together.
isle_seet asks: How many episodes are there total -- so far? How long is it going to air on Bravo?
beverley_bergen_live: There are 8 in total. I'm not sure when it stops airing. I think Bravo is now showing 2 episodes in 1, so it's an hour of the program.\
y_chat_diva: Who's on the wish list of doing the show next?
beverley_bergen_live: We'll have to see how Bravo feels,: but I have a wish list. Barbara Bonney, Roberto Alagna, Fredrico VonStade People of that caliber. There are so many wonderful singers. There will be no difficulty whatsoever Hei Kyung Hong. Thomas Hampson Samuel Ramey Angela Gheorgiu So many many possiblities. And of course, we can make and violinists and pasta and pop stars and pasta and actors and pasta. It's never ending! :)
yamonn asks: can you over boil pasta
beverley_bergen_live: Badly. You have to first of all buy very good quality pasta.
beverley_bergen_live: There are 2 in America. DiCeeco and Barilla. Those are 2 very good brands that tend to be very forgiving so if you cook them too long they don't fall apart in the pan. You have to buy good quality pasta. Or you make your own. You do Martha Stewart! Make your own everything!
Rosebudd33 asks: what is your connection with Bravo?
beverley_bergen_live: Merely a friendly and happy collaboration. I had no prior relationship previous to this program. They liked the idea and agreed to invest in the program, the series. But I now feel that I have friends at Bravo, which is wonderful.
socalbeachgirl_99 asks: Isn't this show currently being shown also on The Food Network?
beverley_bergen_live: No only on Bravo.
hbdelpilar asks: What are the different places you've filmed the show at?
beverley_bergen_live: New York, London, Vienna, The Italian Riveria, San Francisco, and berlin. So for the next series,we have to find some people in Paris and Barcelona! That would be a great idea.
isle_seet asks: How long have you been in production?
beverley_bergen_live: The whole of this year. One entire year. We started pre-production in February of 2000 and are just about to have our Christmas dinner and try to forget about it for a week.
neoman11702 asks: Was Renata Scotti's home of Noli as beautiful as it appeared?
beverley_bergen_live: It is absolutely as beautiful as it appears. It's very small and it's one of the few remaining original fishing villages on the Italian Riviera. It's very close to a larger town called Pietra Ligure. And it's about a half hour drive from Genoa.
aquaqueen202 asks: so what do you do fun
beverley_bergen_live: Dream up new programs! :) Cook for my family. Read. I'm an avid reader. And of course I play the piano and I still sing a little, though I'm retired from professionally singing. This is my new career. You have to keep reinventing yourself, you see!
lilysoo asks: Can you suggest a Xmas pasta dish?
beverley_bergen_live: My goodness. I suggest you do something terribly colorful. Like make something with the red peppers and with green parsley and something very fresh rather like the dish I cooked in the episode with Derek Lee Regin. You just go for color. I'm sure there are also pastas with chestnuts, but it sounds a little revolting to me. Christmas colors, the red and the green. I'm sure the Americans would be inventive about what to do with leftover turkey. Perhaps olives and tomatoes. Check out the website for the recipes. www.bravotv.com
charliebrown9ca asks: do you have any daughters?
beverley_bergen_live: I have 3 daughters. One is 32, one 26, one 22. They're all exceptionally beautiful, I have to tell you this.
y_chat_diva: are you auctioning them off?
y_chat_diva: ;-)
beverley_bergen_live: They're all at this stage, unmarried! One lives in Los Angeles1
hbdelpilar asks: have you thought about doing some shows in the caribbean?
beverley_bergen_live: No, but what a great idea! We have to find a great Caribbean singer. Does anyone know of one? Who might have a home in the Caribbean?:) The crew can go and stay there for a month, you see, and do the program very leisurely. LOL
haven_30240 asks: why did you want to be a singer
beverley_bergen_live: As soon as I could talk, I could sing. I sang endlessly and came up through the church choir system in New Zealand and I was a choir conductor and the one who had a lot of voice in the choir and had to be told to keep quiet because I was drowning everyone out. I got a degree in psychology and music and then became a radio and tv announcer. and won a scholarship to study opera in London. I had to decide to continue a career in tv or try for a career in opera. it was a big turning point.
y_chat_diva : how difficult is it to have a career in opera?
beverley_bergen_live: You have to have the talent. And the determination of a bulldozer. And the steel wire of ambition. You know, the number of people who have voices like Pavarotti are maybe 1 in 10,000. But there are many wonderful singers across the world who are making good careers who don't have necessarily that kind of sound. Like Rene Fleming, who has that great beauty of sound. There are many people across the world. It's as hard as being an actress. Or a conductor. Or anyone who's highly skilled in the arts. You need to have that extra ambition
erinmorita asks: is it better to make your own pasta for most dishes? and how difficult is it to make it yourself?
beverley_bergen_live: It is actually very easy to make, but what I suggest you do if you want to do that is get one of those hand cranking pasta machine. You can get them from William Sonoma. That will make you flat pasta,
like a fettucine or linguine. But the Italians all cook with manufactured pasta. Like what you buy at the store. They don't always make their own either. The easiest way to make it is with the machine.The instructions come with it. It's fun, but you can buy such wonderful fresh pasta. To make, it's labor-intensive. But fun to do and great to do if you have children, to involve them in it. But you need to have time. You definitely need time.
tbist_1 asks: When did you relize you were such a great singer?
beverley_bergen_live: I don't know that I was GREAT singer like Pavarotti. I was a good singer and a good singing actress. I was 19 when I had my first professional start, which is very early really. I wouldn't advise it.
cafefiorello asks: What do you think of the singers today as compared with Scotto's generation...
beverley_bergen_live: Oh, I think they're equally as wonderful.No question. Something that worries me is that sometimes young singers are pushed into roles that are too difficult for them. an opera house will latch onto you and may use you unwisely and push you into roles that are too difficult. So you have to be your own best friend and learn to say no.
juzzwtchn asks: What opera house do you like to perform in the most?
beverley_bergen_live: I have to say, I don't think the Sydney Opera House is as wonderful as the one in Vienna or Berlin ... but there is a magic about walking toward that beautiful building. And you look at that fantastic building, truly the 8th wonder of the world. No one can prepare you for how amazing it looks. But it's not the best acoustically. I loved working in Berlin. I sang a lot there and the Munich house was wonderful. And the Vienna State Opera, though I never sang there, was amazing inside.
neoman11702 asks: how about the Met in NY?
beverley_bergen_live: The Met is a wonderful house. Of course ... I find that it's acoustically a little disappointing in comparison with some of the European house. The exterior is very beautiful, but the interior and foyer a bit soulless. I hope I don't upset someone here. Too much carpet. I don't want to upset the New Yorkers!
natashafatale21 asks: what was your favorite role to play and did that role affect your life outside the opera at all?
beverley_bergen_live: I think if you are truly inside a role when you're singing it, your family has to tolerate the fact that you may change a little while you're playing it. However, having a played a multiple murderess during one .. I did not turn into one at home!
juzzwtchn asks: Who picks the recipes you make on the show?
beverley_bergen_live: On the whole, I did. I was of course, guided by what the artist would suggest, but asides from Dmitri Hvorostovsky, he wanted very much to make Siberian Pelmeni, which are part of his Russian tradition ... and Sir Thomas Allen was very keen to produce every ingredient possible out of his fridge. And he did produce a wonderful pasta with it! It was great.
Rosebudd33 asks: can you give me some new ideas for holiday dining?
beverley_bergen_live: Don't dine out! Cook at home! Enjoy making food with your family.
hbdelpilar asks: are you going to continue doing opera or would you like to continue going into tv and possibly film?
beverley_bergen_live: I'm not going to continue to sing at all. My career now is in television as both a producer and creator of ideas. And yes, I have written a film which I've written for my daughter. I'm hoping to produce it at some stage.
y_chat_diva: We're talking with Bravo's Aria & Pasta host Beverley Bergen.. Find out more about Aria & Pasta at www.bravotv.com -- Ask Beverley a question by typing in the "Ask a Question" box
kp_lizard_mascot asks: who is your favorite singer?
beverley_bergen_live: At the moment? I love the sound of Renee Fleming. But I'm also enamored in Ben Heppner, one of our artists. Bryn Terfel, who is one of the great voices of all time. We were very lucky to have him on the program.
natashafatale21 asks: In the question I asked earlier I think I was more interested in what you took with you from the roles you played...what did you learn that applied to the rest of your life if anything? Is there any special something...a memory perhaps or a lesson from another performer that is special to you?
beverley_bergen_live: I think the most important thing for any performer to remember is to remain humble about their gift. This doesn't always happen. But something that became clear with all the singers I interviewed is that performers are very vulnerable people. You're up there exposing yours with your raw talent. You ARE the instrument. You are the voice. That is it. That is you. So I think you just have to remain humble. All my singers seem to have retained that quality, which I think is probably a sign of the great artists.
isle_seet asks: What's your favorite shape of pasta ;-) ?
beverley_bergen_live: The one that I personally cook with most is a short pasta like the penne rigate. And that means ribbed ... it's a short pasta. So the sauce you make tends to stick to the pasta rather well. For some reason, it is the one I often reach for. But only for certain sauces, Things that are a bit chunkier. Chopped up eggplant sauces mushrooms broccoli red peppers. But if you're making a creamy sauce, then obviously a fettucine is going to be better for those.
cafefiorello asks: What was your criteria, how did you chose the eight singers?
beverley_bergen_live: Good question. very well-recorded, the list was originally a lot wider because we had to build a schedule. We were traveling all over. We couldn't have too long a gap between places. A complex situation of availability, cities, their career ... and personal choice. People I really felt were special and interesting.
neoman11702 asks: Do you have any great Italian desserts?
beverley_bergen_live: No not really. Tiramisu. Zuppa Inglese, which is an English trifle. I like those.
p0a2x asks: Are you known for making a special type of pasta?
beverley_bergen_live: No.
zion123_99 asks: At what point of your life did you know you wanted professionaly
beverley_bergen_live: But now I know I want to be a tv producer.
hbdelpilar asks: was Sydney crazy when the olympics were down there? did you go to any of the games?
beverley_bergen_live: Yes. And no, I didn't go to any of the games. I was too busy sitting in editing suites, editing Aria & Pasta.
erinmorita asks: how often does the show air?
beverley_bergen_live: I think once a week.
Check out www.bravotv.com You can see that for information.
cafefiorello asks: Within the contraints of a half hour, is there a lot of footage that doesn't make it onto the show. Any stories we didn't see that you could share
beverley_bergen_live: There are plenty of stories, but really the best ones all are there. Sometimes people say things that are quite dreary, so I think we've managed to get the best edit from the program. There were maybe some more serious questions that were probably not going to be appropriate for a program that was trying to reach a wider audience than might normally be the case for a cultural program.
warrjenn asks: how long have you been in the opera?
beverley_bergen_live: 22 years. And I did concert work as well as opera.
Rosebudd33 asks: what operas have you performed with?
beverley_bergen_live: I sang a lot in Australia. Various companies here. A lot in Brussels., Belgium. Amsterdam. Berlin, London, Welsh National Opera. Gosh. There's a lot. I never sang in the States, though. Sadly. That's why I can be rude about the Metropolitan!!!!
juzzwtchn asks: what's been the most challenging aspect of producing this show?
beverley_bergen_live: I think it's ALL been challenging. The least challenging was actually being on the road and making the show. Probably ... getting the finances. Persuading Bravo to take a risk. The hard part of post-production was the cost of attaching all the music footage and getting the rights to use music and copyrights and all of that. It was very complicated.Much more than I anticipated. We also have a recording out from Universal Music, It's called Aria & Pasta. Viewers can get it. And give it away for Christmas!
y_chat_diva: Well, there looks to be a lot more we can expect from Aria & Pasta
beverley_bergen_live: :) I hope so!
y_chat_diva: Thanks Beverley for joining us today
beverley_bergen_live: Thank you, everybody. I've enjoyed it hugely! Happy holidays!! And thank you to Yahoo!
y_chat_diva: Thanks everyone. Remember You can find out more about Aria & Pasta on www.bravotv.com And catch a new episode this Sunday! Ciao!
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