David Del Tredici

I've always been a composer dependent on texts.

Composers love to write for symphony orchestras because the symphony is the Rolls Royce of musical instruments.

When I first wrote for orchestra, I didn't realize, when you have 20 people playing a violin line, that is very different than one person playing that line.

It is hardly surprising that women concentrate on the way they look instead of what is in their minds since not much has been put in their minds to begin with.

Composers, like authors, have a lot in common. Our main goal is to connect with the listener emotionally.

They haul you up there for, you know, week after week in this kind of star chamber proceeding. Then at the end of it they say, well, we found nothing, but now it's time for special counsel.