I think for more than half of my career I have refrained from talking to the media.

I bring my classical training - some of it, but not all of it - and also my background and culture, to spirituals. And I try to leave room for that unpredictable factor, where the feeling of the song is allowed to come through. The same ethos can be applied to singing Mozart, or Schubert, or Bach. It's not just about what's on the page.

In spirituals, the talk of heaven and deliverance was code for a better life. 'Crossing the River Jordan' was code, of course, for escaping to freedom.

I think for more than half of my career I have refrained from talking to the media.

New York is a great place to be fed in the arts. The arts in general are a large part of my life. The city was my postgraduate course.

Some of the music I listen to is pop. I sing it in the shower - and then for public consumption.

Wherever and whenever I sing, if there is only one spiritual on a program, people will talk about two things afterward, and one of them will be the spiritual. What I bring to this is the best of my classical training - not all of it. I apply what is appropriate.