I think there are influences that you open the door to, and influences that come under the door.

I don't have ideas so much as there are things which constantly evolve... there are various threads or layers, if you like, which change.

I wrote music as soon as I knew notation.

The piece that had a large influence on me was Turangalila.

Minimalism now is a reaction to what came before. It's absolutely of its time. Music moved into the set theory thing, and moved out of it.

The opera tells the story with all the built-in contradictions and from many different angles.

One thing I've tried to do in writing music is take on very basic things, very archetypal things.