I was encouraged by my mother and, to a lesser extent, by my father.

I was encouraged by my mother and, to a lesser extent, by my father.

Like any other composer of opera, I choose a subject not for polemical reasons, but because it contains vivid characters in highly charged dramatic situations.

People in very high places suddenly fall, and we are always surprised because we don't factor in the basic element that they're humans and, therefore, they are flawed and have weaknesses.

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.

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

Most of the important composers in our country are clustered in the Northeast.