In real life as in grand opera, arias only make hopeless situations worse.
My arias make me take off as if I were on a trampoline.
When I started studying for the arias it was like going into training for a heavyweight title fight
I never listen to music when I am writing. It would be impossible. I listen to Bach in the mornings, mostly choral music; also some Handel, mostly songs and arias; I like Schubert's and Beethoven's chamber music and Sibelius' symphonies; for opera, I listen to Mozart and in recent years Wagner.
I think one reason I'm drawn to expansive syntax is that arias are so often exercises in extending language as a means of intensifying feeling.