We sing with the entire body. The sounds that we make emanate not just from the head, but from the whole heart and soul, and, most important, the gut.

I was always a very good student.

When a human being without amplification makes a sound that is high and loud, it is almost unworldly.

My philosophy is that the people around us are there doing as much work if not more work behind the scenes and they're the last people you would ever be unkind to, so I hope I'm not a diva off stage.

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

I'm not a reactionary.

I was constantly being pushed toward a European ideal of what it means to be a classical or opera singer, let's say in the Renata Tebaldi mode. I reject that.