"Singing is an extension of speech, and superb singers are superb actors," he said. "You have to act the meaning of the text. It's about emotional involvement and good technique…"
For Salamunovich, vocal music was literally a religious experience.
"I learned in parochial school that praying is not talking to God; it's lifting the mind and heart to God," he told the Ventura County Star in 2004. "Music feeds the heart, and the words feed the mind. When the choir is done singing at the end of a concert, I say privately to myself, 'Amen.'"