When I perform Strauss, it is as if the music fits me like a glove. My voice seems to lie in a happy area in this music, which is lyrical and passionate at the same time.

My children are my children. There's no doubt about that at all. They're very strong towards me, very protective, and I towards them. It works both ways.

I knew that I could be more creative onstage, to state my own case and deliver my own interpretation of the role much more aggressively than in the recording studio.

My energy is undiminished. Someone said to me the other day, 'Are you retired?' and I said, 'Well, I'm just trying to prove that I'm not.' There's so many things to do.

I felt that the studio recording process makes you stand still too long.

I never had the influence of any other singer in my music, so I sounded like myself all the time.

I grew up in the New Zealand countryside. We didn't have television until I was 14, so sing-alongs were our only entertainment.