Any subject is good for opera if the composer feels it so intently he must sing it out.
Let us be clear: I take ten times more money for a concert than for an opera performance.
They tell me Wagner's music is better than it sounds.
Because, in opera, I have to sing for people that are very far from me, instead of, when I sing a song, I try to imagine to sing like in an ear of a child.
The Germans are a cruel race. Their operas last for six hours and they have no word for fluffy.
This is not a rock opera. This is not Tommy. I can write songs that emote, and that's it.
Science fiction is for real, space opera is for fun.
Philanthropy is no longer about writing a check for $10,000 to the opera.
The reason I shift gears constantly, why I'm doing an opera, why I've done essays, why I've written poetry for years that nobody wanted, why I do short stories and novels and screenplays. . . is so I will have new ways of failing. This means becoming a student again.
The Opera is obviously the first draft of a fine spectacle; it suggests the idea of one.