Describe your route into conducting.
I sang in choirs as a boy. I started at Gloucester cathedral and remained a singer right through to my mid-20s. I loved the teamwork element. But what really got me thinking about becoming a conductor was watching my first operas. I couldn't believe music and drama could be so closely intertwined.
What was your big breakthrough?
A very big one came in my 20s. I was at the Salzburg festival, watching a rehearsal, when the news came that one of the repétiteurs [musical coaches] on Berg's Lulu had fallen ill. So I stepped in and ended up spending three wonderful summers there. It was a com-plete fluke – as these things often are.
There are still relatively few female musicians in several of the world's major orchestras. Why is that?
That's not my perception. In Britain, our orchestras are more or less 50/50. You do get some august male institutions, especially abroad, but I don't think it's a general problem. I actually think orchestras will get more and more female, because fewer boys are learning instruments. Here, that's partly down to successive governments' lack of interest in music as a central part of the curriculum.
Do you suffer for your art?
Oh yeah. Last night, I hardly slept. I had The Flying Dutchman going through my head.
What music would work as the soundtrack to your life?
The music that resonates most closely with me is usually whatever I'm working on, rather than something that says a great deal about me as a person. I loved Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier, for example, while I was conducting it, but that's not to imply I'm an ageing woman losing her sexual powers.
Which other artists do you most admire?
The person I'm most in wonder of is [conductor] Carlos Kleiber. His style is elegant and beautiful, but he also has extraordinary warmth and humanity.
Is there an art form you don't relate to?
I have a real problem with classical ballet. You hear of great pieces of music being changed around to suit the dancers, which feels totally the wrong way around to me.
What's the best advice anyone ever gave you?
When I started being a music director someone said it was two jobs. I didn't really understand what that meant until recently: you have to be a musician with your musicians, and a manager with everyone else. You can't mix the two up or you get lost.
In short
Born: Gloucester, 1974.
Career: Has conducted many of the world's major orchestras; music director of English National Opera since 2007. Conducts Billy Budd at the Coliseum, London WC2 (020-7845 9300; eno.org), from 18 June.
High point: "The first time I conducted at the Proms."
Low point: "Insecurities at the beginning."
