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

When I've seen my operas in Europe, they have always struck me as more American than when I hear them here. I can't tell you what that phenomenon is.

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.

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

It's amazing how fast generations lose sight of other generations. One of the first things the young composers who come to work with me say is that they want to write music people will like, instead of gaining their credentials by being rejected by the audience.

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.

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.