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I love to conduct opera.

It is essential to do everything possible to attract young people to opera so they can see that it is not some antiquated art form but a repository of the most glorious music and drama that man has created.

Opera is the original marriage of words and music, and there's a theatre element, a dramatic element. It's right up my alley.

To sing opera, one needs two things: the voice and the passion - and above all, the passion.

Opera is a beautiful and important diversion for me.

For years, I wasn't in the least bit interested in opera.

I was attracted to opera when I was 15 or 16. A very rich man in England bankrupted himself to put on a lot of opera during the war, but he converted a lot of people, myself included, in the process.

People who have passion for horror stories, their appreciation/my appreciation is looking at it as opera.

Opera is really fun.

I like the idea of people coming to opera for the first time and finding it an enjoyable experience. I don't like the fact that opera is seen as elitist and all black ties and that stuff.