My music wouldn't sound the way it does if I hadn't had the experience of conducting.

There is something very special about this part of the world [U.S], which is the openness and the curiosity and the lack of prejudice and the lack of generally accepted norms as to what art should be and how an artist's career should go and all that.

This conducting thing happened. In 1983 I was sucked into this international career, which was a very scary experience.

This country, and the West Coast, especially, is bad at preserving any cultural legacy.

There's so much energy exchange [in conduction], so you get back a lot, of course, but you also have to give a lot. It's kind of high-energy thing.

After 30 years I have realized the greatest pleasure I can get is to have learnt.

I always felt that one day I would have to make the change in my own life, bite the bullet and see what it is to be a composer who conducts rather than the other way around.