It seems to me opera is just as relevant as an expressive art as anything else.

You can't possibly predict what will last or not. But once you attempt to write for the ages, you're doomed.

Socially I never was an outsider. I have never thought of the conflict element before frankly, but perhaps it was wanting to belong, and at the same time wanting to retain one's own personality.

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

I found a certain kind of music congenial to me; it never occurred to me to write music that was academically acceptable.

If an American audience is given a serious musical theater piece that is well produced, dramatically gripping and wonderfully acted, they'll respond to it.