I believed in Santa Claus until I was 12!
Danielle de Niese
One of the things I loved about my childhood was that I didn't feel like I lost my innocence too young, like some children these days.
Outreach appearances in the schools are usually part of my contracts, and I love doing them.
In a fit at the bookstore one day, I bought all my favourite composers' biographies: Schubert, Massenet, Wolf. I've still not had a chance to read them; it breaks my heart. But when you travel so much, you just can't take that many books with you.
Music is as integral to me as my own DNA. My life has become a continual soundtrack, with music underscoring the most powerful and even the most banal moments of my life.
I love Jimmy Choo and Manolo Blahnik.
I have to take care of myself. It's about self-preservation.
I'm a huge dog person; I love to hug and kiss them.
My professional life shouldn't be an influence on whether I spend time at home. My career is my whole life's blood. It's my calling.
One of my favourite books of all time: 'The Great Gatsby'. I just think it's so well written.
I feel very fortunate. I feel like an Olympian. When I watch the Olympics, I cry because I have been through that journey.
I spent my first 10 years in the Commonwealth. I come from cricket, crumpets, cucumber sandwiches, the Queen.
What I see as specially English is the charm - everyone is so polite. Being restrained is part of the charm. And I love the sense of humour - it takes me back to Australia. The English are great at making fun of themselves. They're so self-effacing.
I know there are lots of regional accents in England, but I can't tell them apart and I'm not really aware of class. I don't pay any attention to those boundaries. I'm a California girl.
I think of myself as an Olympian. I have had a dream since I was a very small child. And because I have parents without whom I couldn't have realised that dream.
To be a famously successful opera singer. I wanted that since I was eight.
I sang with a voice that was natural, and I liked the way I produced that sound. I thought of my other friends, that they were singing and dancing, but they didn't have this. I was special.
My parents kept me very grounded.
My Mozart career began as a teenager in Los Angeles, singing arias from 'Le Nozze di Figaro' and 'Don Giovanni.'
Mozart is my first strength.
My dad's in banking, my mum manages the American branch of a Swiss vitamin company; they're really busy, but they still come to all my premieres.
My mother actually does most of my shopping for me. I love fashion, but I don't really love shopping.
I've always been a bit dressed up, even on casual days. I suppose that's the performer in me.
I got into singing when I was 6.
The thing that fuels me the most is the desire to be on stage. And singing is the ultimate way of expressing all the emotions that I have inside.
Unfortunately, opera engagements tend to be made five years in advance, and I don't really agree with that.
We can all afford to do a little soul-searching about the choices we make and the way we live our lives, but sometimes searching one's soul doesn't provide the answers we seek.
Music can be a source of escapism.
From my perspective, music allows me to escape from the world of what is happening right in front of me... to the world of my thoughts, my dreams, my hopes and ideas - for the world, for my own life, for the day, even for the moment.
I've always considered myself to be a travelling soul. I've never felt out of place anywhere.
I don't feel I'm fighting to reach this huge audience; it just happens. I go on stage before the audience arrives and look out to this vast empty house. There's something therapeutic about taking in the ring where you'll perform.
You can't abuse your voice by yelling and screaming.
