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True expression is hard when performing opera. The problem is that opera relies on the dramatic context of the piece. It can be interpreted and represented, but there are guidelines; there is a vocabulary within the pieces that you must know objectively and reflect.

When the music and the characters are flawlessly synchronized, the opera develops an emotional force that movies and plays cannot match.

As the director of an opera, it is my responsibility to unify the style of the particular performance, but one can certainly approach the piece from different points of view. That's what makes it interesting and keeps it alive.

It seems to me opera is just as relevant as an expressive art as anything else.

But nevertheless, it's music ultimately that matters in opera, and opera is a piece of music reaching out as a vision in sound reaching out to the world.

The opera is like a husband with a foreign title - expensive to support, hard to understand and therefore a supreme social challenge.

Opera is the ultimate art form. It has singing and music and drama and dance and emotion and story.

Opera is one of the most important art forms. It should be listened to and appreciated by everyone.

People perceive opera and classical as elitist - I disagree. I've always tried to mix the two, make it more accessible.

More and more, we're used to taking things in through the eyes rather than through the ears, and opera is more of a spectacle.