“What if you didn't have education for sports? People with a natural inclination …” — Sondra Radvanovsky

Opera - above and beyond anything else - is about the music, and it should be about the music.

I think the power of opera has been shifted from the music to the director, because this is a very visual age that we live in.

I think Chicagoans have a great set of values. You know what I mean? Kindness. Morals. Ethics. People in Chicago do the right thing. If somebody falls on the street, someone will actually stop and help them up. That doesn't happen in certain other cities.

If I can transport audiences for the three or four hours they're at the opera, to make them forget all of their worries, the bills they have to pay and all that, then I've done my job. That, for me, is very gratifying.