Opera Quotes

Opera in English is, in the main, just about as sensible as baseball in Italian.

To me, the appeal of opera lies in the fact that a myriad of singers and instruments, each possessed of different qualities of voice and sound, against the backdrop of a grand stage and beautiful costumes, come together in one complete and impressive drama.

It's very much like opera singers. They do the same thing. The first thing in the morning and the last thing at night, the thing they think about is their voice and how to take care of it.

Of all the noises known to man, opera is the most expensive.

The first rule in opera is the first rule in life: see to everything yourself.

I don't think an opera house is ever a place that can make you entirely happy.

I kind of went into soap opera with 'General Hospital' in the '80s. It's like theater because every day it's a new script, which really doesn't have a beginning, middle or end like a play or a movie script. So you have to be on your toes and bring it every day. And you have to be spontaneous, which is really how I like to work.

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

I had a soap opera, and my next job was working with Kyle McLachlan on The Invisible Man.

Even in today's opera world, the position of the black tenor is problematic.

Opera is given so little attention in the national press.

I don't limit my taste. There's some jazz that I like and there's some opera. I've been listening to what was essentially country music, but it crossed over to rock.

In opera, as with any performing art, to be in great demand and to command high fees you must be good of course, but you must also be famous. The two are different things.

If you have to be in a soap opera try not to get the worst role.

I ride horseback - arthritic knees permitting - or listen to opera. Sometimes I cook. I used to do needlework, but it's hard on my hands now, so I only do it occasionally, but I like it. And, of course, I read.

Opera tells stories through the pure emotion of music. An exhibition has to tell a story purely visually. I've tried to incorporate both of those things - pure emotion and being more visual - into my writing.

I would just like to say that opera is no longer about fat people in breastplates shattering wine glasses.

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.

So, I lived at the Beijing Opera, I ate there, I learned a craft. And the money we made went into the company.

I have the absolute utmost respect for soap opera actors now. They work harder than any actor I know in any other medium. And they don't get very much approbation for it.

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.

Very few opera singers in history have been able to cross into popular music.

Soap opera wouldn't be my first choice, but at this point in my life, I would consider a soap. It would allow me to act and still do other things with my life.

Since I was a child I've loved going to the opera, theatre and ballet.

The cynical part of the answer is that I expect to see a good deal more space opera, set far enough in the future as to be disconnected from contemporary issues.

And what unity is to be had, at a time when orchestras are dying out, and when opera houses are about to close their doors; what's going to come next - when nothing new in music, for the orchestra, is truly lasting: pieces are performed once, and then they're thrown away.