I find it enormously valuable to be sure that that the pacing is what I think it is and that the scenes have the shape I think they have musically and dramatically.

If I felt that one of my operas did not come off I would certainly say so.

The performances of my works in the last 10 years are probably equal to all the previous years put together. There are so many venues now and there is a completely new public for opera that's grown up outside of the traditional core opera public.

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

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

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.