The artist is something of an outsider in America. I have always felt that America does not value its artists, certainly not in the sense that the Europeans do.

I was trying to do something that seemed very natural and easy but which bridged that gulf between the singing voice and the speaking voice.

Our most intimate contact with civilizations long since dust has been through the art which has survived them.

It's necessary to track characters all the way through an opera. If you're dealing with more than one or two characters, it's very easy to forget that the others have lives of their own that feed into the story.

Anyone who creates something new or does something different artistically is going to be singled out.

The story of Willie Stark fascinated me because it was tackling the story of a man who outwardly has all the success one could possibly want and who is destroyed by his personal demons.

I had all the normal interests - I played basketball and I headed the school paper. But I also developed very early a great love for music and literature and the theater.