It's such an important work in the development of opera as an art form - the orchestra is not just accompanying, it's playing a big part in telling the story.

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.

You are born an artist or you are not. And you stay an artist, dear, even if your voice is less of a fireworks. The artist is always there.

He was found to be uncultured when he was caught not knowing anything about European history, opera, art and so on,

You have to look at the opera as not being about fidelity, but who you think you are and what happens when you pretend to be someone else and you discover you are that someone else.

It's an attempt to do speaking opera. What I'm doing can work against the melodrama and the music, and parody the melodrama. In the love scenes, the men are picked up by the women ? the men are swept off their feet ? so I can get a lot of comedy from it. It's a comedy of opposition.