Everyone is different. Sometimes it's very exciting; sometimes very scary.

If there were no rules about when to applaud, we in the audience would have the right response almost always.

We seem to have set up some very arcane rules as to when it is actually OK to applaud.

Sometimes I wish that applause would come just a bit later, when it is so beautifully hushed that I feel like holding my breath in the silence of the end.

Mozart often wrote to his family that certain variations or sections of pieces were so successful that they had to be encored immediately, even without waiting for the entire piece to end.

Everyone is different. Sometimes it's very exciting; sometimes very scary.

I think competition in any kind of activity like music, art, literature - anything that's not done with a timer - is actually impossible. So, in effect, what you're doing is you're entering the lottery. You're hoping that you play well (and that) you play your best on the day that you're heard, and you're hoping that the people who are judging will like what you do.