You can't expect someone born into a family with no music...to understand when I'm conducting the Schönberg Variations.

Today, conducting is a question of ego: a lot of people believe they are actually playing the music.

I'm not naive. I know perfectly well that there isn't a single Arab or Muslim in the world who would say: There has to be a Jewish state in the Middle East.

In the beginning, there was silence. And out of the silence came the sound. The sound is not here.

To have real knowledge, one must understand the essence of things and not only their manifestations.

I love conducting. What I'm tired of is music administration. I don't want that. I just want to make music.

US presidents can make all the commitments and declarations they want until they are blue in the face, in the Muslim world they will always be perceived as partisan.