How agreeable are you?<\/p>\n
I work in the arts, so it\u2019s a question of not only being agreeable, but also getting your point across from an artistic perspective. You may have an artistic vision about something that the director, the conductor or other people around you might not have, so it\u2019s trying to find the middle ground of where I\u2019m comfortable doing what I do as an artist within the framework of what they want. As for me being a parent, I would say I\u2019m agreeable until it comes to a point where I have a solid stance on what I believe in or think. <\/p>\n
What\u2019s your middle name and what do you think of it?<\/p>\n
My name is Celine Mary Brigid, and I love my middle names because I\u2019m a woman of faith. The middle names mean a lot to me because not only are they the names given to me, but they also fully represent my personality.<\/p>\n
Where is your favourite place in Ireland?<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not making it up, and I\u2019m not trying to please anyone, but it\u2019s here, it\u2019s home. It\u2019s Co Kildare, it\u2019s Naas, specifically Caragh. I travel abroad a lot with my job, and I don\u2019t really like big places because I grew up in the country. I love where I live because I look at it every morning. I can see two horses down the field that way, and there are cows and the Wicklow Mountains on the other side. That\u2019s why I love sitting in the kitchen even though I have a music room. I love the fact that I can raise my children here as well. I think it\u2019s a privilege to live in the country, to be able to put on your wellies and walk down the fields, swim in the river at the end of the field. It\u2019s a different mindset.<\/p>\n
Describe yourself in three words<\/p>\n
Determined. Oversensitive. Loving.<\/p>\n
When did you last get angry?<\/p>\n
Anger is not an emotion that comes to the fore. It normally develops from anxiety, stress or frustration. It\u2019s usually anxiety because I\u2019m worried about not knowing my music completely, inside and out, or concerned that if I go for an audition, they won\u2019t like me.<\/p>\n
What have you lost that you would like to have back?<\/p>\n
My dad. I lost him five years ago, and I never thought I\u2019d be without him. I\u2019ve changed a lot since he passed away. I would say that I was always very self-aware, but since his passing, I\u2019ve become more guarded, a bit more assertive with myself, a little bit stronger in my personality. <\/p>\n
What is your strongest childhood memory?<\/p>\n
It may not be my strongest memory, but it\u2019s certainly the most enduring because I did it so frequently \u2013 working in the bog every summer haunts me to this day. I hated it. Just to clarify, I loved it when we had the turf in the trailer, because you got to sit on the trailer on the way home. Health and safety? We all would have been in jail! Especially going over the railway bridge, we\u2019d be sitting on the top of the turf on top of the trailer, and if there had been a bump, you\u2019d be gone. How old was I? If you were strong enough to throw a sod of turf, you\u2019d be out there.<\/p>\n
Where do you come in your family\u2019s birth order, and has this defined you?<\/p>\n
I\u2019m the middle of five siblings, and I would be the typical middle child, the peacekeeper. You know, trying to make sure that everybody\u2019s okay and everybody\u2019s happy, and being very good at masking my feelings for the sake of somebody else.<\/p>\n
What do you expect to happen when you die?<\/p>\n
I\u2019m going straight to heaven. I try to be a good person. I try to do my best. I do as much as I can for charity and for other people, and I believe that I\u2019ll go to heaven. I\u2019m not here to convince anybody. If I grew up a Buddhist, I\u2019m sure I\u2019d be telling you something different, but I grew up a Catholic, and I definitely think having God and Jesus in my life has helped me. It\u2019s a wonderful feeling to wake up every morning and to know that somebody\u2019s there, always, and loves you unconditionally.<\/p>\n
When were you happiest?<\/p>\n
I have loads of happy times. The thing with me is I\u2019ve had amazing highs, a lot of which have to do with my career, but I\u2019ve also had devastating lows. I\u2019ve asked myself if I could be without the anxiety and everything like that; would I be happy just coasting somewhere in the middle? I don\u2019t think I would because the highs have been so wonderful. I\u2019ve achieved a lot in my career. I won the Maria Callas Singing Competition, and I\u2019ve sung in Covent Garden, Royal Albert Hall and Carnegie Hall. I\u2019ve done nearly everything that I\u2019ve wanted to do. In my personal life the happiest I\u2019ve been would be having my three babies \u2013 they\u2019re all adults, but they\u2019ll be my babies forever \u2013 and the happiest I am is when I\u2019m around them. I\u2019m biased, but I think they\u2019re the best children in the world.<\/p>\n
Which actor would play you in a biopic about your life?<\/p>\n
Maybe Angelina Jolie, because she looks like me. No, that\u2019s a joke, she doesn\u2019t! I don\u2019t know if there will ever be a biopic about me because I\u2019m not interesting enough, but if there were, I would love for somebody to get a chance to start on their road, on their career. It would just be nice for somebody to get a gig, wouldn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n
What is your biggest career\/personal regret?<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t have any regrets because you live for the present, and you can\u2019t live in the past. Negative thoughts shouldn\u2019t be engaged in. I made life choices and lost out on things because of the choices I made, but would I have changed those? No.<\/p>\n
Do you have any psychological quirks?<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t read from an iPad or a tablet. I need to have paper, and the reason I need to have paper is that I have to know where the text is. I work from the music score, from the physical pages, and I have to know what\u2019s on the left page and what\u2019s on the right page. It\u2019s the same with reading. I wouldn\u2019t be able to read on Kindles; I need a book, because I can always go to it and know where to start or know which point on the page I need to refer to. It\u2019s much easier than having a panic attack when you see all this music in front of you on a small screen, and going, \u201cWhere am I?!\u201d<\/p>\n