When audiences heard that Anna Netrebko would sing the role of Lady Macbeth at the Metropolitan Opera during the 2014-15 season, there were a lot of skeptics.

Netrebko admitted in a recent The New York Times interview that she had never seen so many "googly eyes" or people questioning her decision to take on the dramatic role.  

Ever since her debut in 2002, Netrebko was dedicated herself to singing lyric repertoire in roles that include Adina, Norina, Elvira, Juliette and Manon. The closest she came to the dramatic repertoire was Anna Bolena in 2011 followed by her role debut as Taitiana in "Eugene Onegin" in 2013. However, neither of these roles indicated a voice that would sing the muscular music Verdi wrote for the role of Lady Macbeth.

However, on Sept. 24 when "Macbeth" finally opened, Netrebko received ovations and reviews were outstanding. Latin Post said her performance created "one of the most electrifying nights in recent opera history."

Netrebko's journey into Lady Macbeth has been a two-year process in which she has taken time to test the parts of the role in concert performances and on her 2013 Verdi album, on which she recorded all three of the character's arias.

The reason for this preparation, she told Latin Post, is because the role is extremely taxing.

"From the beginning to the end, it's very difficult. One of the hardest roles I ever sang. It has a big range. It needs lots of power, coloratura, some lyrical lines. Whatever you can imagine it's there. It's long, restless," she said.

For her preparation, Netrebko stated that she read Shakespeare's work but did not really listen to any previous versions because "There is not actually an existing proper recording of Macbeth except for some live performances which in my opinion are not precise. I mean you cannot really learn this role from recordings."

"But there are a couple of videos," she added. "I think my favorite one was from La Scala. I think that is the Macbeth I really liked, and I took it as a model."

Netrebko's big debut in the role came in June 2014 at the Munich Bayerische Staatsoper. However, she only performed the role two times during that run. Coming into the Met's 2008 production by Adrian Noble, there were new challenges as the opera will be live in HD.

"I saw the live performance, and the video," she said about the existing recording, which was filmed in 2008 when the production first premiered.

For this revival Noble returned, and Netrebko said it was easy to work with him even if there was limited time.

"It was very easy and very clear. There were a few days of rehearsal only. I mean the production, it's so wonderful, precise and so clean. It does not need too many things," she said. "It's so clear. From the beginning we understood each other and what we're going to do."

For this revival, Netrebko surprised fans and audiences by wearing a blond wig, which was not originally intended for the production.

"Why the blond wig? I just wanted to be different," she said. "I'm always singing as a brunette. Actually, Lady Macbeth always has dark hair, and I thought in this particular production where everything is quite dark, certainly in 1940s...I think this crazy lady with blond hair would make a good thing. It was also a little bit unnatural, which is fine."

Netrebko also decided to switch costumes around. In Act Two, the original staging had Lady Macbeth wearing a slip. However, Netrebko decided on a suit outfit, and in Act Three she wore a night robe with the slip.

"Yes I switched the costumes because I think it's better and suits the dramatic moments," she said.

It certainly suits her approach to the character's sexuality. By the third act, Netrebko's Lady Macbeth throws off her coat and wrestles her husband to the ground to engage in sexual intercourse. It is their final moment onstage together, and the climax of the sexual tension building between them.

"They have a very strong sexual relationship and she needs a lot of sex," she said. "And you can see how it develops. It's very animalistic by the end of the opera. I think the sexual power goes together with the ambition and vanity and hunger to have power. It all comes together in this production."

For this revival, the soprano was accompanied by an all-star cast that included Rene Pape and Joseph Calleja. However, for the soprano it was her first time performing with baritone Zeljko Lucic, who originated the production back in 2007.   

"[He was] fantastic. I've known Zeljko from many years. I never worked with him on the stage, but I saw him many times actually in Macbeth in Salzburg," she said. "I think he is one of best leading Macbeths right now, not only vocally but also the way he looks and the way he acts. He is the real the Macbeth."

"And of course he was easy to work with. I tried to do my best and he was very nice to me," she added.

For this production, she also had the leadership of Met Principal conductor Fabio Luisi, with whom she has worked with on numerous occasions including Massenet's "Manon" back in 2012.

"He is absolutely amazing and his reading of the score is very deep and very Italian," she said. "He is very precise with the score. He has lots of depth and he was just always there. I mean, he did not say anything particular, but he was there from the beginning to the end. He is absolutely wonderful."

Netrebko's foray into Verdi has been a slow process, but in the past two years, she has added two other roles from the composer including "Giovanna d'Acro," which she performed at Salzburg in 2013, and Leonora in "Il Trovatore," which performed in Berlin in 2013 and this past summer at Salzburg.

Before all these roles, she performed a lot of Bel Canto music and she admits that singing this music was "absolutely" helpful to singing Verdi.

"Verdi came from Belcanto. There is a lot of Bel Canto there," she said. "But its Verdi, I mean you have to sing with Verdian voice. This is hard to do. But it is the only way to that.

"It's so demanding. Your breath control has to be perfect, your point of the sound, it has to be right there to be able to go through a role like Macbeth or Leonora in Trovatore which is also very difficult," she explained.     

However, Netrebko did note that audiences should not get used to hearing her sing many more Verdi roles.

"I will only sing two more," she said, one of which will be Aida at the Met in a couple of seasons.

While her Lady Macbeth is currently the hit of the season, Netrebko has two more highly-anticipated new productions coming up. One will be the Metropolitan Opera premiere of Tchaikovsky's "Iolanta," and the other will be in Munich, where she will perform alongside star tenor Jonas Kaufmann in Puccini's "Manon Lescaut."

The soprano has performed Iolanta a number of times around the world. She first performed the role in 2009 in Baden Baden in the production by Mariusz Trelinski, the same production that will make its debut at the Met this season.

"It's quite dark for Iolanta because Iolanta is a fairy tale. But the production has wonderful ideas and I think it makes sense. It is interesting and the music is absolutely fantastic. I don't mind, I like it. It's very bold," she said.

The opera is not very recognized in the U.S. but it is very famous in Russia. For American audiences, it will be the first time many hear it, but Netrebko said that this Tchaikovsky opera always appealed to her.

"I love the role. I've known it since I was very little and it is very popular in Russia," she said. "But I never thought of myself as a Tchaikovsky singer.

"Somehow this Iolanta came and it was so natural and I learned it very fast. And it was very easy for my voice," she added. "And I just love the music. I love to sing it and I love the character. It's completely different from Lady Macbeth, which is great, as well."

Iolanta will be her second Tchaikovsky role at the Met. Last season she sang the role of Tatiana in the repertoire staple "Eugene Onegin" to great acclaim, but she admitted that she prefers "Iolanta."

"I prefer personally Iolanta. It [better suits] my personality and my voice. I don't know why," she explained. "I mean both Iolanta and Tatiana can easily be performed by the same soprano. But I just prefer Iolanta. I can sing it over and over again and I will never get tired of this music.

"Tatiana is lower, it needs the middle register and is also vocally more difficult," she said, regarding why Iolanta suits her better than Tatiana. "The phrases are not so comfortable. I like to sing higher, which is why Iolanta is natural. I don't have to do anything."    

    

Back in February, Netrebko took another big step in her career by singing the eponymous role of "Manon Lescaut." It was her third time taking on a Puccini heroine and her work was met with great success.

"Manon Lescaut" was all the more momentous for the soprano because it marked the first time that she worked with legendary conductor Riccardo Muti.

"I came there absolutely unprepared. I didn't know the role as always," she said. "But he was very patient with me. By the third day we were rehearsing the last act and I started to read from the score. After ten minutes, he notice that I was reading it and that I didn't know it.

"I said, 'Maestro, I need another few days to learn the opera.' And I thought he was going to kill me, which is what he is supposed to do, but he was very nice and patient with me." she continued. "He said, 'Okay, let's work on that.' He's one of those conductors who is working a lot. He takes so much time with the musical rehearsals. He can work on one place for half an hour until it is perfect. And this is great, I love it. I wish I could prepare every role like that."

Netrebko will perform the role for the second time in Munich in a highly-anticipated production that she has yet to see. Hans Neuenfels will direct it, and she said, "I hope it will be fantastic."

"I adore the music absolutely. This is outstanding musical material, it's a great conductor Alain Altinoglu, and of course Jonas [Kaufmann] is amazing. I am sure it will be a great experience."

Looking ahead in the soprano's packed schedule is Bellini's "Norma." The role is said to be the pinnacle of all soprano roles and it is also a return to Bel Canto. However, Netrebko must first tackle the role of Donizetti's "Anna Bolena," a bel canto role, which she admitted back in 2011 was the hardest she ever sang.

So has Verdi singing made this role easier? "I have no idea. The time will come for Anna Bolena we will see. I am sure it will be definitely be easier," said Netrebko .

New York audiences can catch Anna Netrebko's Lady Macbeth on Oct. 11, 15 and 18. Her Iolanta performances begin on Jan. 26, 2015, and will run through Feb. 21, 2015.