The music of Giordano’s Andrea Chénier is just so overwhelmingly exciting. I’m such a fan of verismo, so I’m really looking forward to doing it again with Opera Australia in concert. The first time I did it was for a radio concert actually, in Amsterdam in 2003, and then the Covent Garden production in 2015 directed by David McVicar. That’s all the experience I’ve had with the opera, but it’s one that I really love and can’t wait to return to.

Eva-Maria Westbroek. Photo © Fazil Berisha

My character Maddalena, a noblewoman, starts out as a girl who is sort of spoiled, but then finds her whole world turned upside down once the French Revolution begins. She has to live on the run and is constantly in fear, and she turns to Andrea Chénier [an historical figure and poet] for protection and they fall completely in love. And it’s through love that we see her character evolve – Chénier becomes a wanted man and Maddalena is so in love with him that she’s willing to sacrifice herself and die with him. Her journey is just amazing.

She’s extremely loving...