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I think opera has gained a kind of glamorous appeal. It's a live performance that aligns all of the arts, and when it is represented in the media, in film in particular, it is presented as something that is really a special event, whether it's a great date or something that's just hugely romantic.

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 performances of my works in the last 10 years are probably equal to all the previous years put together. There are so many venues now and there is a completely new public for opera that's grown up outside of the traditional core opera public.

My worry is that opera will become an historic art form as opposed to a living, breathing thing.

Now the big question is if you are going to go to all the trouble of setting an opera and making all that music and so on, there's got to be some aspect that you can do in an opera that really makes it worth while.

Quite a few operas are still being commissioned around the world, although nothing apart from audience popularity can ensure more than a few performances.

Opera is for a lifetime, not just a minute.

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

The number of opera houses around the world and the high attendance rates show that opera an art form that is more popular than ever.

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.