Opera Quotes · Page 16

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

— Sam Waterston

I am an opera virgin; I'd far prefer to see a musical such as 'Guys and Dolls.

— Sophie Thompson

My parents were opera singers and voice teachers, so growing up, I admired musicians and dancers.

— Sandra Bullock

Opera requires singers with exceptional talent and years of rigorous, formal training.

— Jackie Fuchs

I would have loved to sing opera, but I have no voice. I used to sing along with records.

— Bruno Sammartino

If work isn't rooted in comedy, people will turn from it, or they'll use it like soap opera.

— Israel Horovitz

Watching Italian opera, all those male sopranos screeching, stupid fat couples rolling their eyes about. That's not love, it's just rubbish.

— Peter Shaffer

I wouldn't mind seeing opera die. Ever since I was a boy, I regarded opera as a ponderous anachronism, almost the equivalent…

— Frank Lloyd Wright

One gets, sensitive about losing mornings after getting a little used to them with living in a country. Each one of these…

— Nathaniel Parker Willis

I never listen to music when I am writing. It would be impossible. I listen to Bach in the mornings, mostly choral…

— Colm Toibin

My mum's an opera singer: I grew up watching her get swept up in music and transform herself into characters. She taught…

— Katie Noonan

Dumb luck brought on the move from business to acting. I had moved to New York when I was 23, in the…

— Teddy Sears

I wasn't the best in my class at the Royal Academy. There was a really good soprano and baritone who were technically…

— Katherine Jenkins

I was born in a world of opera, theatre, films, poetry, art, and therefore, out of the wire, I made a stage.…

— Philippe Petit

I think sometimes when you speak about something like 'Indian classical music' and 'ragas,' and all of that's new to people, it…

— Anoushka Shankar

If you're a young artist, wondering what to call yourself, consider 'multimedia artist.' It's so vague. Then, no one can say, 'Hey,…

— Laurie Anderson

As a horror movie fan, I was very obsessed with horror films. Still am. I love the genre. For me, horror films…

— Bryan Fuller

I don't suppose I can wear the flamingo tie," he said as he pulled on black socks. "It's a bit festive, given…

— John Green

The nice thing about doing a pop opera - in the way that doing, say, 'Miss Saigon' or 'Les Miz' would be…

— Lea Salonga

In Hamburg, there are three major orchestras, an opera house, and one of the great concert-hall acoustics in Europe at the Laeiszhalle,…

— Jeffrey Tate

“Who are you? Where do you fit into poetry and myth? Do you know who I think you are, Ramsay? I think…

— Robertson Davies

I was very young, maybe five. The opera was very... I was attracted to opera to the point that I think it's…

— Lalo Schifrin

Cinema is a kind of pan-art. It can use, incorporate, engulf virtually any other art: the novel, poetry, theater, painting, sculpture, dance,…

— Susan Sontag

I started realizing that one of the great things about opera is that if you make the right kind of story, you…

— Tod Machover

In how many lives does love really play a dominant part? The average taxpayer is no more capable of the grand passion…

— Israel Zangwill

Opera is one of the most important art forms. It should be listened to and appreciated by everyone.

— Luciano Pavarotti

Despite some standout events, 2012 was demoralizing. The Met felt adrift, and New York City Opera couldn't claw its way back to…

— David Edelstein

I see fashion as going on par with all the other cultural institutions here. Ballet, theater, opera - I don't see fashion…

— Stephanie Winston Wolkoff

When you have the cast, the sets, the lights, an opera takes on its own life. I'm not one of those directors…

— Maximilian Schell

My mother was into opera and my father was into jazz, so there was a lot of jazz in the house where…

— Chaka Khan

I like folk songs, but ten horses couldn't bring me to a concert or an opera.

— Fritz Lang

We became spear carriers in a great televised opera. We were props in a show. I always felt we should have joined…

— Peter Lisagor

Texting isn't writing. It's not like letter writing. Texting is short scriptwriting. It's a collaborative soap opera where nothing happens.

— A. A. Gill

Now, all of a sudden, every college and every university has an opera theater. Every little city has its little group.

— Gian Carlo Menotti

I maintain that Western popular culture at its best is worthy of respect and should be cherished as much as the operas…

— Ibn Warraq

Ballet costumes are easier that opera because they are designed for movement.

— Azzedine Alaia

I like the idea that [Mahatma] Gandhi is appearing now in an opera hall in all these different places, and people kind…

— Philip Glass

Wagner used to read the libretti of his operas to his friends; I am glad I was not there.

— Ralph Vaughan Williams

I sing a mixture of everything from opera, folk music, Broadway. It's a mix of things.

— Katherine Jenkins

I like Strauss's operas because it's all women's voices; I like opera that's hysterical.

— Ron Mael