The theatre only knows what it's doing next week, not like the opera, where they say: What are we going to do in five years' time? A completely different attitude.
Harrison Birtwistle

There are two sighs of relief every night in the life of an opera manager. The first comes when the curtain goes up The second sigh of relief comes when the final curtain goes down without any disaster, and one realizes, gratefully, that the miracle has happened again.
Rudolf Bing

They're getting me involved in intrigue again, and I think it follows a classic formula in a soap opera.
Michael Zaslow

This is not a rock opera. This is not Tommy. I can write songs that emote, and that's it.
John Mellencamp

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.
Junichiro Koizumi

To tell you the truth, I never listen to opera at home.
Lesley Garrett

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

We consider Monteverdi the first composer of opera. There was someone before, but everything started with Monteverdi.
Cecilia Bartoli

We're a very expensive group; we break a lot of rules. It's unheard of to combine opera with a rock theme, my dear .
Freddie Mercury

Wednesday a junior came to me, and told me I was to be hazed as I left the Opera House Friday night.
Richard H. Davis

Well, opera began with an intent to resuscitate Greek drama, that is, modern opera as we know it.
John Eaton

What opera isn't violent? Two things happen, violence and love. And other than that, name something else. You can't.
Cab Calloway

When an opera star sings her head off, she usually improves her appearance.
Victor Borge

When I first started acting, I started in opera and had a great desire to play grand, tragic characters. I got sidetracked in musical theater and ended up doing a lot of comedy.
Leslie Easterbrook

When my opera Plump Jack was performed in 1989, my first piano teacher sent me something that I'd composed when I was four. I remember I played it, and it still sounded like me. I'm the same composer I was then.
Gordon Getty

When something like that happens, people want to try to find some dirt and make it more of a soap opera. But I think we both walked away with the door still open, if we want to do something together again. So yeah, I would call it a friendly break-up.
Scott Stapp

When the music and the characters are flawlessly synchronized, the opera develops an emotional force that movies and plays cannot match.
Bruce Beresford

You can't do opera when already from the 10th row you can only see little dolls on the stage. In such an enormous space you can't put much faith in the personal presence of the individual singer, which is reflected in facial expressions, among other things.
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau