When my opera Plump Jack was performed in 1989, my first piano teacher sent me something that I'd composed when I was four. I remember I played it, and it still sounded like me. I'm the same composer I was then.

If you have more money than you need, you have to give it away. It's a duty. I get to choose whom to sponsor, and I like to give to the areas that I know something about.

I personally do not write highbrow music. If I do, it's by accident.

I want to make the world better.

The Getty family has been fully supportive throughout 'double life' situation, and for that, I am very grateful.

There is no change - I'm as deep or as shallow as I ever was. What's new is on-the-job experience. This is what you gain with years.

My music is all about an idealistic human personality. I have 19th-century ideals.