Kristine Opolais Quotes

Americans, they have an incredible operatic tradition: the Metropolitan Opera House is - if not the most prestigious - one of the most prestigious opera houses in the world for over 100 years.

I am under no illusion that I will ever be the greatest opera composer in the world, with Wagner and Verdi and Strauss before me. I think my work could fit very nicely into musicals, though.

I've always gravitated towards opera, and the Royal Opera House is quite possibly the greatest opera house on earth.

The Metropolitan Opera, of course, is the gold standard in opera. The Met experience includes the huge stage, the vast audience, the elaborate sets. Anyone who saw 'Faust' there - I did - knows exactly what hell is like, complete with fire, smoke and terror.

I began by listening to my mother's collection of Amelita Galli-Curci and Lily Pons records, and then was taken (at age eight) to hear Pons at a Met performance of Lakme. It was at that moment that I decided to become an opera star. Not just an opera singer, but an opera star!

I had a year at 3 when I wanted to be a conductor in the opera.

An opera begins long before the curtain goes up and ends long after it has come down. It starts in my imagination, it becomes my life, and it stays part of my life long after I've left the opera house.

The little song and dance number at the end - that's me, my voice, howling out. It was a new experience for me. I've never sung before and I've certainly never sung on screen. I think I sung on stage when I was 13 and for some reason nobody's asked me to try it again since.

When you are up close to an opera singer, hearing this incredible volume of noise coming from a human being - it's beyond belief.

I decided I was going to be an opera star. I was about 12.

Well, the very best operas are the ones written by the very best composers.

At its best, no art form is more thrilling than grand opera, yet none is at greater risk of following the dinosaurs down the cold road to extinction.

Grand opera is the most powerful of stage appeals and that almost entirely through the beauty of music.

We do not seem to be finding tomorrow's Toscas.

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.

A great opera house isn't run by a director, but by a great administrator.

After 'Spelling Bee,' I started landing more jobs... I got 'Candide' at New York City Opera.

I enjoy listening to opera at home, occasionally, but I would much rather see it than just listen to it.

The 'Daughter of the Regiment' that I did in Boston was vintage Sarah Caldwell, which is to say it was brilliant. Before my career was over, I'm sure I sang the role of Marie at least a hundred times, often in productions that cost a fortune, but none touched hers.

I love grand opera. I can't hear 'La Boheme' without dissolving.

My father's an opera nut, and my stepmother used to work at the Metropolitan Opera, so I had a lot of opera immersion. I like the grandness and pretention of it.

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

I got my first blockbuster break for the movie 'Cocktail,' where I sang 'Second Hand Jawani.'

A lot of people hated every moment of my 'Ring.' And a lot of people who had never been to an opera bought subscriptions to the next season.

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