Bryn Terfel Quotes

Above all, I am an opera singer. This is how people will remember me.

I originally wanted to be an opera singer. I studied classical voice at the University of Washington but soon realised I didn't have the instrument or the discipline. The road for opera singers is more difficult than for actors.

When I had my first voice lesson I was 15 years old. And I had a really good teacher. This is what made all the difference. A good teacher will teach you the technique, but also how to listen to your voice.

I knew how to sing in choirs and sing in church, but I didn't know how to sing in a studio. That's what Darlene and the Blossoms taught me to do - to be a studio singer.

The real exertion in the case of an opera singer lies not so much in her singing as in her acting of a role, for nearly every modern opera makes great dramatic and physical demands.

I'm not a trained singer at all. I've auditioned on occasion for proper musical theatre-type stuff, but I can't read music, and I wasn't particularly good at it.

I started performing opera when I was 10 years old. I didn't perform as Zola Jesus until I was probably 18.

I watch Renee Fleming a lot. I listen to Renee Fleming a lot. She was like my built-in master class.

I have so much respect for the big opera singers that I never dare to say I'm a singer.

Then I trained as an opera singer for four years before I started singing professionally as a pop act.

Boy George always told me to stop noodling; he wanted me to belt like Ethel Merman.

All my voice training comes from choir and small ensemble singing.

I'm trying to get better at singing. I just want to be great vocally on stage so I can give fans a real show, like Jazmine Sullivan does.

I sing, and the musicians kind of fit things around me.

An operatic voice is like no other.

I sang opera for over four years when I was younger.

I grew up singing in the church choir, but I've not really had any training.

My only claim to music is a good sense of rhythm, and I have been in musicals and done some singing.

I sang in 'Waiting for Guffman,' and I sang in 'A Mighty Wind.' I can carry a tune, but I don't like that Broadway singing.

When I was 11 years old, I wanted to sing Tosca.

Good singing is learning how to transmit learning musical information with your voice in a way that everybody can relate to. But as a woman you just get a lot of criticism because everyone sees you like a raw lump of clay that needs some help.

If you decide to work with the opera world, chances are there are going to be people who resist that.

I sang when I was in primary school, and I did singing at Sylvia Young: no acting at all.

I did classical singing at school. I did exams in that. I'd sing soprano, and we'd sing in German; we'd do Schubert for my pieces, in Latin, French... I really enjoyed that. I kind of miss it.

I know that composers know my voice type and what songs will suit me. I have been able to mould my voice according to the nature of the song given to me, be it rock, pop or jazz.