Men and women of western Sydney, it's appropriate, you apparently believe, that Australia's oldest surviving Prime Minister should make the concluding remarks in Australia's oldest surviving Government House. I hope the building's foundations are a bit more substantial than mine.
I've never had a relationship with a record executive. I always went to the record company by someone that liked my playing. Then they would get fired, and I'd be left with the record company. And then - because they got fired - the record company wouldn't do anything for me.
Nobody notices it when your zipper is up, but everyone notices when it's down.
The orchestra confides in me about their music director or their conductor, and I've never seen a conductor that's been liked by everyone.
I guess, as a conductor, one goes in and out of fashion. Your career starts with a bang, everyone thinks you're wonderful, and then with middle age, something happens and you go into the wilderness.
Most artists have contracts directly with the record company, and when they do music, all of their music is owned by the record company. But I did mine through a production company.
Nobody notices your sorrow, your pain,
but everyone notices your mistakes.
42% of our management team are women. So we've reset the goal to 50% by 2017. Because that's when Westpac becomes 200 years old as an institution - the oldest bank, and indeed the oldest company in Australia. So that's a lovely point to reflect on.
The only thing I have no control over is the politics that goes on within the record company. It's always been the same, but it's far tougher now, because record companies are run by financial people; before, they were run by creative people.
I prefer it when the conductor follows me. It is more difficult to work with a conductor who does not listen - even if I understand that sometimes it makes sense when one person is ruling everything. But for bel canto, I have to have a conductor who listens and supports me.
If I want to do an orchestral record, if I want to do an acoustic record, if I want to do a death-metal record, if I want to do a jazz record - I can move in whichever direction I want, and no one is going to get upset about that. Except maybe my manager and my record company.
No record company in the world would say, 'We're not promoting if you keep calling somebody a snitch.' They know what makes money. A record company would never be that stupid. Ever.
Before the Greeks were the Tamils. The Tamils are one of the oldest civilizations that's still surviving.
Before the Greeks were the Tamils. The Tamils are one of the oldest civilizations thats still surviving.
I had a good record company right from the beginning, and I'm still with them after all these years. I think I may be the only person in the world that's had a tenure this long with any record company.
Do not let any record company disturb your creative flow. You are not writing for the record company. You're writing for the public.