Anyone who creates something new or does something different artistically is going to be singled out.

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

The artist is something of an outsider in America. I have always felt that America does not value its artists, certainly not in the sense that the Europeans do.

America tends to worship the modest talent because it doesn't put us in an uncomfortable position vis-a-vis the artist.

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.

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.

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