My children are my children. There's no doubt about that at all. They're very strong towards me, very protective, and I towards them. It works both ways.

That's been my sort of aim in life, to never miss an opportunity.

I never had the influence of any other singer in my music, so I sounded like myself all the time.

Opera is for a lifetime, not just a minute.

I felt that the studio recording process makes you stand still too long.

I grew up in the New Zealand countryside. We didn't have television until I was 14, so sing-alongs were our only entertainment.

I knew that I could be more creative onstage, to state my own case and deliver my own interpretation of the role much more aggressively than in the recording studio.