"I like very much to sing just with a piano. It’s just a meeting between two musicians. It’s my opportunity to express myself directly in my own language. In baroque arias I have not a lot of things to express. This is really my secret garden. I can really express and feel deeply each word of each poem. It’s something special for me."
"The voice, it’s very personal. When I was a violinist or a pianist I could hide myself behind the instrument. You cannot do that with the voice. Its so direct. It’s a direct reflection of your personality and that’s why people like singers. It’s just your voice. You cannot lie. When I started to sing I had this feeling of being completely naked."
"For me, all these things about mechanism are not the most important thing for me. I try to keep the natural sound of my voice, and to sing with as much freedom as I can. But I don’t ask myself about the different mechanisms you can use. [I try] to keep the truth of what I want to do."
"In a concert you are to be yourself."
"Falsetto for me is a terrible word. ... I don’t like that expression. It sounds like something artificial. For me, I’m singing head voice, like a soprano or mezzo-soprano. You don’t say a soprano is singing in falsetto."
"In singing French repertory, particularly this one, I am showing more my own personality. Who I am really."
"Sometimes when I’m conducting artistically, I realize that I was speaking much more through the violin. It’s a part of my history. A lot of my idea about articulation and phrasing come from the violin, because it’s natural for me."
"[I] want to keep something of our childhood, the pure innocence. As a countertenor, I have the feeling of finding something which is not touched by life. It’s something special."
"I have an obsession with not over-playing things, because I think if you’re emotionally authentic then you’ll connect with the audience naturally."
"As a teenager I was always playing Mahler, Stravinsky and Shostakovich very loudly in my room, as well as techno and metal. I didn’t really draw a distinction between them - I was just sitting there in the dark, feeling the vibes!"
"You have to enjoy each moment."
