David Del Tredici

“For me, tonality is an addiction. I'm a tonal composer, I'm proud of it, and I'm going to keep on.”

“I've become a gay composer. It's a little like being a woman composer or a black composer. You're a bit of a special case.”

“I think gayness has given me an outsider's view.”

“My problem is I don't know how to be simple. I'm always complex.”

“The music has to sound good. I don't care about anything else.”

“There's so much joy in this music. It's not grim, dour, 'modern' music.”

“Alice was my muse, my obsession... She allowed me to be extravagant.”

“I had a real fear of words for a long time. The piano was my 'voice'.”

“When I came out, it was as if a great inhibitive block had been removed.”