"My parents discussed singing every night over the dinner table; I had a tremendous music education."
"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."
"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."
"I listen to archival and historic recordings. I love watching singers. I learned a lot from watching videos."
"For a while it was hard for me to say no to work."
"I enjoy the more floaty, exposed, elegant singing."
"I don't like to sing loud."
"My mother was the worst kind of stage mother. She would make me and my younger sister and brother little duckling costumes and put us in kiddie shows."
"I'm not a reactionary."
"I would love to do more private concerts."
"I have a certain image that's more classic, and I'm happy to stay out of the fray."
"For years, I had no time for exploratory travel."
"I do everything in the third person. Performance is about being someone else."
"I'm reserved, so I've always needed to find a way of opening up. Jazz helped me do that."
"With classical singing you have to put out so much air - you project, you emit force."
"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."
"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."
"I learned so many roles so quickly as a young singer, I thought it was time to come back to them and make them better - deeper, more nuanced."
"I am so envious of my colleagues from 100 years ago who only sang new works, they hardly ever sang revivals."
"Every singer eventually gets around to a Christmas disc."
"When a human being without amplification makes a sound that is high and loud, it is almost unworldly."
"It is always fragile, being a parent."
"For my own singing, I used to be attracted by the baroque, the flashier the better, but now I prefer a simpler, purer style."
"Contrary to the norm, as my technique improved my voice became higher."
