A person has the right, and I think the responsibility, to develop all of their talents.

I have enjoyed most particularly reading the correspondence between Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss. The genuine friendship, competitiveness and support that thread through their communications are life lessons for us all.

One needs more than ambition and talent to make a success of anything, really. There must be love and a vocation.

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.

Problems arise in that one has to find a balance between what people need from you and what you need for yourself.

I have a particular affliction. I am unable to say a word I can't spell.

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.