Your artistic and humanitarian work has been recognized with many honors. Is there one in particular that means the most to you personally?
To be perfectly honest, I don't differentiate between the honors that I have been fortunate enough to receive.

Which is more demanding, singing or conducting?
The demands of singing and conducting cannot be compared because they are based on different aspects of one's being. Under normal circumstances you cannot sing when you are sick, because everything depends on your health, not only that of your vocal cords, your breathing, and resonating apparatus, but of the entire body which is needed for breath support and stamina. You cannot sing properly when you are physically overtired for the same reason. On the other hand, you can still function as a conductor even when you are not feeling 100 percent.

However, the demands for making music as a conductor are much greater from the standpoint of concentration. Instead of knowing just one part, you have to be on top of every part in the orchestra. One wrong cue can create havoc. And, even in rehearsals the conductor must be 100 percent note perfect. Otherwise, he loses the respect of the members of the orchestra. I might add that I need at least 24 hours after having conducted before I sing again. This is because my breathing musculature has to relax before I can sing again the way I want to. I can conduct immediately after having sung, but not the other way around.

And which is more rewarding?
They are both equally rewarding.

The three tenors probably did more to popularize opera than anything or anyone in the last 100 years. Did you imagine that the project would turn out to be as wildly successful as it did?
When we started The Three Tenors with the concert at Rome's Caracalla Baths it was, more or less, a lark for three colleagues to celebrate the return to health of one of them — namely José Carerras, who had won the battle against leukemia. We were surprised by the magnitude of its success.

Some opera purists and critics don't like the idea of tenors singing to thousands of people in stadiums with their voices amplified. How would you answer them?
Why should the “purists” object to our using microphones when we sing arena-type concerts? We have proven the legitimacy of our voices by performing in opera houses without them even in a theater that seats close to 4,000 people, like the Metropolitan — and at the same time projecting over an orchestra that is almost 100 members strong.

We know what you give to the audience. What does the audience give to you?
An audience is very important because as performers we feed off their reaction to our performance. A responsive audience always excites us to give our very best. That's true of all the performing arts. Can you imagine a standup comic giving his all if the audience doesn't reward him with laughs?!

Every voice changes over time. What adjustments have you had to make to the changes in your voice?
With proper technique, a voice most often tends to lean toward a more dramatic repertoire as the career progresses. That's why over the years I explored more Wagner and relinquished such purely lyrical roles as Alfredo in Traviata and Rodolfo in Bohème.

What are the greatest advantages of celebrity and what are the greatest drawbacks?
The greatest advantage of being a celebrity is for me one of accessibility to people or situations that help to achieve certain goals. That's especially important in finding financial support for the arts, specifically in this country, where they don't receive government support like they do abroad. As for a drawback, I'm not going to tell you the old bromide of “sacrificing one's privacy.” If you are a performer you belong to the public! If there is a drawback, I haven't figured it out yet.

What's your idea of the perfect day off?
My idea of a perfect day off is to be with my family at our seaside home, playing with my grandchildren, swimming, lying in the sun, and permitting myself the luxury of forgetting about a diet which is supposed to be healthy for me. In practice though, those kinds of days are more or less reserved for Christmas and New Year's Day!

What are the greatest professional challenges you are currently facing?
The greatest professional challenge has never changed: to give the best performance every time I sing or conduct.