I like to sing to Verdi, I like singing to Sibelius, and Mahler maybe.

I've always gravitated towards opera, and the Royal Opera House is quite possibly the greatest opera house on earth.

I wish I could just relax sometimes and make some money, but I always feel like I have to prove some kind of big, profound point.

I definitely have a Luddite's approach to what's going on. I find that as I get older, I get stupider.

When it comes to sitting down and composing, there is no hesitation, no concern, no critics breathing fire down my neck. For me, writing a song is the purest part of all. No one can mess with that.

Writing an opera and premiering in England, you could say I was going right into the eye of the storm and I came out successfully. A little tattered and bruised, but so what, I made it.

If I had had more of a strategic attitude towards how to reveal my sexuality, and if I'd even played with it a little more, I could have sold a lot more albums and been a lot more famous.