What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Afternoon sun on a hillside after a morning's walk. Lunch and possibly a nap if it is warm.
Which historical figure do you most identify with?
Sometimes I feel a bit like Tom Crean, the polar explorer from Kerry. Usually backed the losing team but good in a crisis, always useful and got along with most people.
Which living person do you most admire?
Simon Rattle.
Which is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Contrariness.
What is your greatest extravagance?
Farrow & Ball.
What is your favourite journey?
Cycling by a canal.
On what occasion do you lie?
When I tell my daughters that I don't want a dog.
Which living person do you most despise?
Nigel Farage.
What or who is the greatest love of your life?
Hi Janna. Yes darling, it's you.
When and where were you happiest?
Sunset, January 17 1996, Tyndall Glacier, Aspiring National Park
Which talent would you most like to have?
Poetry.
What is your current state of mind?
Looking for light at the end of the tunnel.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Exchanging my New Zealand driving licence for an Irish one - honestly you have no idea of the preparation, commitment, and performance required.
If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what do you think it would be?
A pinball machine with a fierce multiball.
What is your most treasured possession?
An ammonite fossil weighing about 20kg I snuck home from Morocco in my hand luggage in the throes of food poisoning.
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Losing your voice plumbs the depths of anguish for most singers, even when you have been there before.
What is your favourite occupation?
Pottery - still yet to try it.
What is the quality you most like in a man?
Kindness.
What is the quality you most like in a woman?
Wit.
Who are your favourite writers?
Robert MacFarlane, Eric Newby, Susanna Clarke, David Foster Wallace, David Mitchell.
What is your motto?
It's good to laugh
Tenor Christopher Bowen hails from New Zealand and is performing as part of Music for Galway's midwinter festival, STANFORD, this Saturday, January 22 as part of the choral concert in St Nicholas' Collegiate Church at 2pm. More info on www.musicforgalway.ie
