I like to sing to Verdi, I like singing to Sibelius, and Mahler maybe.

One of the main destructive forces within our family has been these runaway egos. I think if you look at any show business family, that struggle exists.

Unless I have my aunt or my boyfriend to take care of me, I'm a little pathetic.

When I'm in the classical world, I really treat it as exactly classical and I don't try and spruce it up or jazz it up or make it easier for the masses.

I've always gravitated towards opera, and the Royal Opera House is quite possibly the greatest opera house on earth.

After years of hotels, I'm horribly inept at cleaning up after myself.

I am under no illusion that I will ever be the greatest opera composer in the world, with Wagner and Verdi and Strauss before me. I think my work could fit very nicely into musicals, though.

I definitely try to broaden the scope of music. I don't know if it's pop or classical or what, but I'm religiously challenging myself all the time, for better or for worse.

I wish I could just relax sometimes and make some money, but I always feel like I have to prove some kind of big, profound point.

In retrospect, I'm really shocked at how far I put my heart out there on the line with 'Prima Donna'. I seem to have this knack for being able to accomplish that.

I very much faced my mother's death with hard, arduous and time-consuming labor. The more I would do, the less I would feel.

I have earned hundreds of thousands of pounds, but I can't seem to get to grips with money.

Every video I do is over budget by the time I walk on set. I am massively extravagant in my personal habits.

To me, songs come of their own volition - and with an open-ended philosophy.

My parents were serious working musicians, but they were not stars - not like pop stars that you have now. They had to make a living and that meant touring, working hard, going on the road - and we were roped in.

I made the decision to take on board the critical feedback. Reviews are something you can easily ignore as a performer or writer but I chose to not ignore them here and I think that I benefited. I think I'm stronger for it - and I have a tougher skin as a result.

Writing an opera and premiering in England, you could say I was going right into the eye of the storm and I came out successfully. A little tattered and bruised, but so what, I made it.

I definitely consider 'Poses' - the whole album in fact - to be kind of a miracle. Like the last breath of that moment when decadence is healthy, 'Poses' encapsulates that feeling. It's a kind of song and a kind of album that I'll never be able to repeat.

For better or worse, I've always been curious musically. Whether it's opera or Judy Garland or pop, I've deliberately sought those things out. I've never wanted to do the same things over and over. Some think I've accomplished what I set out to do, and others consider me a dilettante.

I like to try new things.

The Germany I was enthused with was more old fashioned and kind of romantic. I just got there, and the next thing you know, I had this huge gilded album. It was kind of an amazing experience because I didn't intend it to be that way.

I have a good face for what I do.

I find so many songwriters today are missing an element... either the production is amazing but the songs aren't, or it's the other way around.

As an artist, you put so much into what you do and it can all be torn down in a nanosecond.

When it comes to sitting down and composing, there is no hesitation, no concern, no critics breathing fire down my neck. For me, writing a song is the purest part of all. No one can mess with that.

Life is a game and true love is a trophy.

My cheeks explode when I smile. That's why I have to look so nonplussed.

There's no life without humour. It can make the wonderful moments of life truly glorious, and it can make tragic moments bearable.

Being uncool is being pretty much the coolest you can be.

I believe a lot of our lives are spent asleep, and what I've been trying to do is hold on to those moments when a little spark cuts through the fog and nudges you.

I've developed into quite a swan. I'm one of those people that will probably look better and better as I get older until I drop dead of beauty.

I like to make the mundane fabulous whenever I can.

I am undefinable. I don't fit into any particular category.

Crazy as it sounds, I'm a believer in destiny and serendipity, and I have had cosmic experiences all my life. Something told me I was meant for greater stuff. And look, I've had a baby! And I've written an opera!

Let the little fairy in you fly!

Some people go to Berlin to get more cutting edge; I went and started wearing lederhosen and going to visit baroque palaces.

I think we could all be a bit more elitist.

I'm definitely a fan of juxtaposition. Using the most beautiful line to say the most horrific thing - I think one of the main things in songwriting is definitely friction between the words and the melody.

I'm your knight in shining armor. I'm here to save you from Linkin Park.

I would love to have a number one hit. The truth is if I don't get one, I'll be fine, but at the same time, the truth is that I'm dying for one, as well.

'Prima Donna' is my kind of love song to opera but it's not the full experience.

I may not lead the most dramatic life, but in my brain it's 'War and Peace' everyday.

Arguably, the relationship between Liza Minnelli and Judy Garland is one of the great mother-daughter sagas of all time. Certainly, for certain people, and a lot of them, Liza is the bigger star. Liza is the more kind of viable legend, shall we say. Then there's the other camp, where Judy is the one.

When I wrote the opera, I made a deal with myself that for at least an hour a day I would work on it, even if it meant just sitting on my piano bench, staring into space and thinking about it. It's about keeping it regular, like your bowel movements - let's get real: it's your bodily artistic movements! It comes from the same place.

Looking back, one of the things I love most about my mom was that she never, ever relented. She stuck to her guns right up until the end. She wasn't abusive, but she was never that thrilled that I was gay.

I basically have needed to go to the piano and give voice periodically to, you know - I'm always afraid to describe it as a kind of therapeutic process, but nevertheless it was a type of unloading that had to occur due to my personal life with my mother's health or just my professional trials and tribulations.

I could always escape into this demi-monde of homosexuality, which I feel really indebted to. It stopped me being a 'mummy's boy.'

My mother's songs are really turning out to be masterpieces. I have inherited this incredible legacy and am so fortunate to bathe in her sensibilities. It is tinged with tragedy. I'd much rather she was here in person, but there is still a positive force to come out of her death and that is having the gift of music that she gave.

My mother and father could not handle even me being gay. We never talked about it, really.

I'm a big fan of the Pre-Raphaelites. Millais, Edward Burne-Jones, and I realised recently that my music is Pre-Raphaelite in a certain way, in that it reinvents an older era and romanticises it, puts it in this gilded frame.