You become a great composer when you win a Pulitzer. But I think that now it's a completely meaningless award.
John Corigliano

I always conceive a piece as a different set of challenges.
John Corigliano

The structural thinking I use in the concert hall is unnecessary to most film projects, and most film composers make better use of the enormous range of pop and other materials and techniques required of them than I probably would, faced with the same challenge.
John Corigliano

Art is not only about angst.
John Corigliano

I don't think that the Pulitzer should be given the way it is. I think the competition should be anonymous. I think completely different people would win it if the names were taken off because a lot of it is done on relationships and names.
John Corigliano

What I think of as style - and I've gotten to this over years of really thinking about it - is that style is the unconscious choices I make.
John Corigliano

I think art can reflect tragedy.
John Corigliano

I find respect for a mediocre British composer, as opposed to a really good American, ridiculous because they automatically respect a composer if he's from England.
John Corigliano