In my view, the operas of Carlisle Floyd will find a place in the permanent repertoire.

On stage, the audience watches from a fixed viewpoint and the director cannot retake something he doesn't like. It has to work straight through.

At HBO, they seem to be well-informed. They make what I think are really quite mature films.

Quite a few operas are still being commissioned around the world, although nothing apart from audience popularity can ensure more than a few performances.

When the music and the characters are flawlessly synchronized, the opera develops an emotional force that movies and plays cannot match.

Everyone has seen photographs of Mexicans wearing those big sombreros. When you come to Mexico, the astonishing thing is, nobody wears these hats at all.

In silent movies, they tended to put the camera down, and everybody walked in front of it and acted, and then they all walked off. Cutting was quite infrequent.