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.

I have this horrible, horrible habit of going on YouTube and checking out comments about what I do.

I've developed into quite a swan. I'm one of those people that will probably look better and better as I get older - until I drop dead of beauty.

Why be in music, why write songs, if you can't use them to explore life or an idealized vision of life?

For me, the iPhone is harder than reading Faust.

I definitely was always expected and encouraged to be a songwriter from a very young age, ... But really it's because, as a child, I thought I was Judy Garland. And when I started out, I was a little nuts. I thought I was a classic, legendary superstar when only 10 people knew who I was. I feel in some ways that my confidence is misinterpreted as arrogance, which is understandable. But I've also always thought that false modesty is evil.

New York is not the centre for American culture and art that it once was because of the forces of conservatism. Giuliani, capitalism - and then there was 9/11. I really believe that if I leave, it will suffer! Maybe that's why I love it here, because I feel wanted.