I was given a stethoscope in a child's 'doctor's bag' at about age six and I loved it! One could hear the heart beating through that plastic toy.

I am grateful that my horizons were not narrowed at the outset.

My arias make me take off as if I were on a trampoline.

There has never been a time when I was not committed to, involved in, or caring of, the social and political issues of my world.

It is still more likely that a woman's power would be seen as aggression, and a man's power would be seen as assertion.

As for my voice, it cannot be categorized-and I like it that way, because I sing things that would be considered in the dramatic, mezzo or spinto range. I like so many different kinds of music that I've never allowed myself the limitations of one particular range.

The very best thing that could happen to a voice, if it shows any promise at all, is when it is very young to leave it alone and to let it develop quite naturally, and to let the person go on as long as possible with the sheer joy of singing.