Met’s Kathleen Battle Keeps Her Goals in Sight

Carefully put together, well organized, tightly arranged--there is thoroughness and predictability in the highly successful career of soprano Kathleen Battle.

Even down to the details of making appointments. Reached late Sunday afternoon at her Indian Wells resort hotel between engagements, the Ohio-born singer was agreeable about rescheduling a phone interview to the next day. But a friendly request that she receive a photographer sometime Monday met with an immediate and firm “No,” though that syllable was uttered sweetly.

Similarly, in fording the byways of phone conversation, the caller from another part of the California forest senses a certain edge to the little-girl voice at the other end of the telephone when some subjects--such as relationships with colleagues--are broached.

But the 41-year-old Metropolitan Opera singer--whose other principal musical bases seem to be in London, Vienna and Salzburg--can be expansive about those subjects she will treat.

In response to a philosophical question about art and life, she responds carefully: “The question is not, as you ask, if art is enough to fulfill my life, but if I am true to the path I have set for myself, if I am the best I can be in the things I do. Am I living up to the reasons I became a singer in the first place?”

On the steadiness and single-mindedness of her career path, she is voluble.

Outlining the program for her latest Ambassador Auditorium appearance (on Thursday), Battle reveals that the one scheduled operatic item on that agenda is Norina’s aria from “Don Pasquale.” In the next moment, she mentions that she will sing her first Norina, at Covent Garden, in March.

As she had told the same interviewer three years ago: “I was advised early (in my career) to sing only certain things, and I never thought to do anything else. . . . Early on, there was no question that my voice and talent had a limited scope.”

That ostensibly modest statement need not be interpreted as self-deprecation. Within that “limited scope,” Battle has conquered worlds.

She refers fleetingly to her eminence in the world of international singers: “Nobody enters this profession to attain celebrity status. We enter because at some time we thought, wouldn’t it be nice to make a living at something I love doing?”

And her life, she is quick to point out, careful not to reveal any personal details, consists in more than just being a musician.

“I’m a consumer as well as a performer. Among my leisure-time activities is going to the theater. I’m very interested in that. When I first moved to New York from Cincinnati (12 years ago) I decided to take advantage of all the things the city offers. I go to live events.”

And her performing life, both on the stage and on recordings, does not stand still.

“I like collaborations. I had such a satisfying time working with (guitarist) Christopher Parkening (on a joint recording, three years ago). That album was a wonderful experience.

“Feeding on that, I am now halfway through making, for Deutsche Grammophon, an album of Bach arias with (violinist) Itzhak Perlman. We’ll finish this summer. It was DG’s idea.

“And I’m planning a Baroque album with (trumpeter) Wynton Marsalis, the centerpiece of which will be (Bach’s cantata) ‘Jauchzet Gott.”

She mentions an upcoming commission--”but I can’t name the principals, the composer or the librettist.” And, tantalizingly, “a project with Jessye Norman,” about which she doesn’t want to say too much, only that, “It involves spirituals.” It’s a busy time on this plateau.

“But, it’s not as if I’m trying to stretch. I have enough on my plate.”