I hate the opera. I think I must have a tin ear. No matter how hard I concentrate it still sounds like a bunch of Italian chefs screaming risotto recipes at each other.
The success of our operas rests most of the time in the hands of the conductor. This person is as necessary as a tenor or a prima donna.
The great opera composers were so good at their job, that the whole genre came to be built around the concept of the composer's vision.
A resolution to attend theatres or operas is an absolute disqualification for Holy Orders.
My mom was an opera singer, and she gave up her career to raise a family. But she also taught my sisters how to sing.
Crazy as it sounds, I'm a believer in destiny and serendipity, and I have had cosmic experiences all my life. Something told me I was meant for greater stuff. And look, I've had a baby! And I've written an opera!
Quite a few operas are still being commissioned around the world, although nothing apart from audience popularity can ensure more than a few performances.
I felt that I really couldn't be creative with opera. You're supposed to sound this way here. You're supposed to crescendo here. You're supposed to do that. I had no sense of identity while singing that kind of music.
I think opera music is very conservative, and Rock and Roll music is conservative as well, and that's why I'm trying to make a bridge between these two elements.
Are you suggesting that we reopen the Opera with a murder as an added attraction?
My horizon on humanity is enlarged by reading the writers of poems, seeing a painting, listening to some music, some opera, which has nothing at all to do with a volatile human condition or struggle or whatever. It enriches me as a human being.
If a thing isn't worth saying, you sing it.
People perceive opera and classical as elitist - I disagree. I've always tried to mix the two, make it more accessible.
Music in general and lately opera in particular fills my soul with hope and inspiration.
The only thing worse than opera is someone who hums along with opera.
Music - opera particularly - is a process which is endurable or successful only if it is achieved by people who love to collaborate.
In the '80s, everyone wanted to be in opera. It was groovy.
I've always gravitated towards opera, and the Royal Opera House is quite possibly the greatest opera house on earth.
The theatre only knows what it's doing next week, not like the opera, where they say: What are we going to do in five years' time? A completely different attitude.
H is for Hardware store: I'd rather go to the hardware store than the opera. And I like the opera.