• Danielle de Niese said her appearance in La Calisto was different
• She claimed she only strips down when she has 'artistic integrity'
• Cyrus, she says, is trying to 'break free from her previous image'
  

By Leon Watson

PUBLISHED: 06:01 EST, 17 January 2014 | UPDATED: 07:35 EST, 17 January 2014

A leading opera star who is appearing on stage in a highly sexualised part has taken a swipe at Miley Cyrus for her provocative twerking.

Danielle de Niese said her appearance in Francesco Cavalli's bawdy opera La Calisto at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Germany, is an example of opera encouraging performers to embrace their sexuality.

But, when talking about the American singer's dance at the MTV Music Video Awards, the soprano said it was an example of a singer using her sexuality for the wrong reasons.

In an interview with The Times, she said: 'I have different reactions based on the way it is presented.

'It's tough [for Cyrus] because you have someone who's desperately trying to artistically express herself and break free from the shell of her previous image that was curated for her by Disney when she was Hannah Montana.

'To break free from that she's felt that she needed to really go in the other direction.'

De Niese said her appearance on stage in a leopard-print leotard is different because she is portraying a wild character.

'When it comes to myself, I am an actor - I am somebody who uses my face and body as a canvas to make a character come to life..

But she added that she would not do a concert performance 'in a mesh leotard' because that would be 'inappropriate'.

The artist, who has performed at the Royal Opera House and Glyndebourne, told The Times she would do it for 'artisitic integrity', but not 'for the sake of it'.

She added that she admired the American singer Beyonce because she showed how sexuality can be more than provocation without being 'crass or rude'.

De Niese's remarks come after Nicola Benedetti, the violinist who won awards for Best Female Artist at the Classical Brits two years running, said that she had declined requests for provocative photo shoots.

She told the BBC's Desert Island Discs radio programme: 'There's not even a point in asking me.'