I have not changed with the accomplishments. I've remained the same. If I had changed, great. You know, but I haven't.

Music enabled me as a fragile young person to give voice to emotions I could barely name, and how it enables me to give my voice the unique and mysterious power to speak to others.

My worry is that opera will become an historic art form as opposed to a living, breathing thing.

The first thing I did when I made a little bit of money as a singer was to buy myself an amber necklace. This is often the way we put together our lives, adding the striking qualities of others into our own character.

I think singing is one of the most natural things that human beings do, but it's difficult.

A lot of bad behavior in singers is caused by nerves.

If I have to hold a note for a long time, I imagine it as moving and spinning, for the note has to have life. In a way, a singer actually refreshes a note with every beat that it's held.