Everybody's a work in progress. I'm a work in progress. I mean, I've never arrived... I'm still learning all the time.
At this stage in my career, I don't have to take any big risks. You want to take a calculated risk, not one that leads to people saying 'yes, but there was that one time when she made that big mistake.' It's always a shame when that happens, especially if you've gotten by for decades without anything hugely tragic.
Well, any time I'm preparing for a performance or even a rehearsal, it's as if in a way, like any other athletes, these are muscles that support the vocal cords which are just I believe cartilage. It demands a kind of constant warming up and a constant feeling of where is the voice today.
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.
For my own singing, I used to be attracted by the baroque, the flashier the better, but now I prefer a simpler, purer style.
One of my timesaving habits is to save all of my magazines and junk mail for airplane trips. I walk on the plane with a very heavy bundle, but by the time the trip is over, it can all be thrown away.
I'm lucky - I can do two things at once.
Learning operatic roles is ongoing, and I find that I can learn on the train or subway, during a manicure, getting my hair done, and even while driving if I only look at the score at red lights.
I am so envious of my colleagues from 100 years ago who only sang new works, they hardly ever sang revivals.
I listen to archival and historic recordings. I love watching singers. I learned a lot from watching videos.
My parents discussed singing every night over the dinner table; I had a tremendous music education.
Every singer eventually gets around to a Christmas disc.
It is always fragile, being a parent.
A lot of performers don't want to leave the circuit, the European opera house circuit, partly because most singers don't sing many concerts, or at least not while they are in their prime.
I don't want to be somebody who stands still and sings pretty. Each song is a world. Each song is a story. I don't achieve nearly what I want.
Being steeped in the process of learning and exploring keeps me from becoming too nervous. Partly it's about not getting bored.
I've spent hours and hours doing research into Appalachian folk music. My grandfather was a fiddler. There is something very immediate, very simple and emotional, about that music.
I want to keep my voice young, with nothing heavy.
No voice teacher can be all things to all people. You have to gain information from whatever sources you can. You have to listen.
For a while it was hard for me to say no to work.
