When I'm onstage, I'm completely comfortable, and I feel very vital and alive.

I still play solo shows. And some of those shows are still some of the best, most gratifying shows.

I don't like to disappear between records. I like to play shows while I'm making the record.

The problem is, when you're working with orchestras, you only get the orchestra for about two hours before the performance to pull it all together, and that doesn't sound like a real collaboration.

The first notes I still play when I start a sound check are classical. Those are my roots.

I've never approached classical music in a formal way, ever. I couldn't read very well. I'd have to play every piece and internalize it, almost as if I had written it myself.

People who are thinking about your music almost as much as you are, that almost never happens.