It is essential to do everything possible to attract young people to opera so they can see that it is not some antiquated art form but a repository of the most glorious music and drama that man has created.
I thought, This is fabulous. It sent shivers up my spine. I thought, What kinds of people are these that would produce this kind of music in a camp? All the prison camp stories I've seen, and heard of, were about the heroism of men. As I researched this and heard the music, I realized that women were heroic too, on just as grand a scale. And their treatment was just as appalling.
When the music and the characters are flawlessly synchronized, the opera develops an emotional force that movies and plays cannot match.
There were movies that always made me want to be a director. You see brilliant scenes and the way the emotions were handled. I thought, I'd really like to do that.
With a film, I do my best to understand the author's intentions and try to bring the characters to life.
Film is shot in fragments, and the same moments can be shot again and again until the director is satisfied.
The music of the most popular operas is so highly esteemed, it can stand endless revivals.
It's not enough to hit the notes. There is no point in the singers just standing there and sounding wonderful if they're not connecting with the characters they are portraying.
On stage, the audience watches from a fixed viewpoint and the director cannot retake something he doesn't like. It has to work straight through.
Directing an opera is similar to directing a play. The singing must not get in the way of the drama.
For a director, the most challenging scenes are the dialogue scenes.
I'd really been interested in opera when I was about 16, and I really like staging them.
In Australia, they set up a special fund to kick films off. It was quite an enlightened sort of move. You could go to this government bureau with scripts and and get finance for films.
In my view, the operas of Carlisle Floyd will find a place in the permanent repertoire.
In opera, everyone's watching from a fixed viewpoint, and that really challenges you. Lighting, the sets, stage groupings, the music-but doesn't relate too much to film.
In silent movies, they tended to put the camera down, and everybody walked in front of it and acted, and then they all walked off. Cutting was quite infrequent.
I don't rehearse films as much as opera or theatre. When I began directing films I thought a long rehearsal was a good idea. Experience showed me that the best performance was often left in a rehearsal room.
When I was 24 I went to Nigeria and it was such a culture shock, growing up in Australia and suddenly being the only white man in this unit full of black men.
With Cold Sassy Tree having its first production, I saw no necessity to do anything other than produce it with the correct setting.
When we were trying to get the money together for the film, one reason that was consistently given for not investing in it was that everyone kept saying no one could direct it well enough to entertain an audience for 100 minutes essentially watching three people chatting in the kitchen.
Everyone has seen photographs of Mexicans wearing those big sombreros. When you come to Mexico, the astonishing thing is, nobody wears these hats at all.
At HBO, they seem to be well-informed. They make what I think are really quite mature films.
The number of opera houses around the world and the high attendance rates show that opera an art form that is more popular than ever.
Perhaps the most difficult thing is shooting scenes set 6,000 feet up in the mountains of Mexico.
Quite a few operas are still being commissioned around the world, although nothing apart from audience popularity can ensure more than a few performances.
