What travel has taught me: Keri-Lynn Wilson, conductor

APPRECIATION

I made my very first operatic performance at the Vatican and that is why Italy is such a special place for me. Here I was, a young female conductor, getting ready to perform for the Pope. I must have taken some people by surprise because before one of my performances I had to show my baton to prove that I was in fact a legitimate 'maestro'. Italy was certainly the place where my career snowballed. Another wonderful and significant Italian spot is Villasimius in Sardinia, a hidden treasure where my husband and I got married and it's where we've spent our summers for the past 20 years.

SPONTANEITY

I was offered to conduct La Traviata for La Vienna State Opera which I had never done before. There was no opportunity to rehearse in Vienna prior to the performance, so I called my Russian manager to find a place where I could rehearse and ended up on a 4am flight from Moscow to Kazakhstan's capital city Astana, which looked like a snowy winterland when I arrived. It was such an exotic place characterised by mesmerising eastern features. It felt surreal and was an unforgettable experience.

RESILIENCE

My grandmother is 100 years old and from Iceland. I have quite a lot of family there and I'm always excited to conduct in Reykjavik. I'm also a swimmer and one of our traditions is to go out in the dead of winter and enjoy the thermal pools. The temperatures are extreme but it doesn't faze me. I guess us Icelanders are hardcore and like to think of ourselves as Vikings. I think that's where I get my fighter spirit from.

ADAPTABILITY

I travelled to the Ukraine pre-conflict, which is where my other grandmother – she's 99 – resides. I used to have strong ties with Kiev Opera, one of the most beautiful opera houses I've ever set foot in. It felt like an old world, incredibly unaffected by the west. Good luck if you don't speak Russian or Ukrainian, there, though. It's really handy that I speak five languages because I love to integrate myself within the culture and communication is always key.

Born in Winnipeg, Canada, Maestro Keri-Lynn Wilson is a guest conductor of leading international opera companies and orchestras. She has conducted frequently at the Vienna State Opera, Mariinsky Theater, Munich, Bolshoi, Palermo, Juilliard, Israel, Warsaw, Bilbao, and Montreal operas among many other accomplishments. Keri-Lynn Wilson performs with Opera Australia on its new production of Cosi fan tutte, May 14 – 25 at Arts Centre Melbourne. See opera.org.au