If you approach an opera as though it were something that always went a certain way, that's what you get. I approach an opera as though I didn't know it.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
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.
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.
But Opera Man, I go, 'Oh, crap! Why didn't I think of that?' Because I could sing fake opera pretty good.
Opera is full of trappings that make us go away from being human. You can't let them do that. You can't walk like you're in an opera! You have to make it real. You have to just be there.
Opera is the original marriage of words and music, and there's a theatre element, a dramatic element. It's right up my alley.
For years, I wasn't in the least bit interested in opera.
Opera, next to Gothic architecture, is one of the strangest inventions of Western man. It could not have been foreseen by any logical process.
There was always dance in opera until people forgot to keep it going.
I don't find much influence in opera. It was such a different part of me.
Opera is a beautiful and important diversion for me.