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.

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

I've never set out consciously to write American music. I don't know what that would be unless the obvious Appalachian folk references.

I think anything that is expressed directly and as honestly as possible will last.

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.