Opera is everything rolled into one - music, theater, the dance, color and voices and theatrical illusions..

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….

The secret of living is to find people who will pay you money to do what YOU would pay to do if you had the money..

We must continuously discipline ourselves to I remember how it felt the first moment..

Tanglewood [summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra] was a place where gods strode the earth..

Music - opera particularly - is a process which is endurable or successful only if it is achieved by people who love to collaborate..

The fact is that great musical pieces take and hold the stage because they provide great emotional experiences..

Success is important only to the extent that it puts one in a position to do more things one likes to do..

Once in a while, when everything is just right, there is a moment of magic. People can live on moments of magic..

Raving mad is quite easy. You just chew up the scenery or something. It's quiet mad that's hard..

That's what it is that you rehearse - the making of music, not the playing of notes as abstractions..

Learn everything you can, anytime you can, from anyone you can - there will always come a time when you will be grateful you did..