Sarah Caldwell

The fact is that great musical pieces take and hold the stage because they provide great emotional experiences.

Success is important only to the extent that it puts one in a position to do more things one likes to do.

If you approach an opera as though it were something that always went a certain way, that's what you get. I approach an opera as though I didn't know it.

Learn everything you can, anytime you can, from anyone you can - there will always come a time when you will be grateful you did.

Music - opera particularly - is a process which is endurable or successful only if it is achieved by people who love to collaborate.

As the director of an opera, it is my responsibility to unify the style of the particular performance, but one can certainly approach the piece from different points of view. That's what makes it interesting and keeps it alive.

If you can sell green toothpaste in this country, you can sell opera.

I enjoy doing both of them very much, concert work particularly, and the division varies from season to season.

That's what it is that you rehearse - the making of music, not the playing of notes as abstractions.