Every video I do is over budget by the time I walk on set. I am massively extravagant in my personal habits.

I have a good face for what I do.

I've been thinking of trying my hand at rap. I've been recording snippets on my BlackBerry.

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

When I'm in the classical world, I really treat it as exactly classical and I don't try and spruce it up or jazz it up or make it easier for the masses.

Crazy as it sounds, I'm a believer in destiny and serendipity, and I have had cosmic experiences all my life. Something told me I was meant for greater stuff. And look, I've had a baby! And I've written an opera!

In the music business, to survive for so long, you have to be able to cut off from your emotions sometimes. And being a father, you're faced with that situation. I know that my father was, with me. I understand why he had to be distant, because to rip yourself away, time after time, is almost more devastating.