Opera needs to be a total escape from real life. To relate to what we're going through today is fine and dandy, but it's really about being transported and completely swept away by a romantic notion.

I've paid the price; I definitely have a reputation that precedes me, and there is a camp that plots my demise. But then again... it's funner that way.

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

The moment something happens to one you love, it's twenty times more intense. You experience pain and enlightenment on a much vaster scale.

Premiering a new opera is probably one of the hardest things in the world to do, and opening nights of any opera are always pretty stressful.

There's no life without humour. It can make the wonderful moments of life truly glorious, and it can make tragic moments bearable.

But I don't even think you hear me at all Under your medieval ceiling behind your biblical wall