I'm reserved, so I've always needed to find a way of opening up. Jazz helped me do that.

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

I'm not exactly an angry young person.

My mother was the worst kind of stage mother. She would make me and my younger sister and brother little duckling costumes and put us in kiddie shows.

At this stage in my career, I don't have to take any big risks. You want to take a calculated risk, not one that leads to people saying 'yes, but there was that one time when she made that big mistake.' It's always a shame when that happens, especially if you've gotten by for decades without anything hugely tragic.

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

I do everything in the third person. Performance is about being someone else.