I actually don't like this term, "classic." It's wrong, but we don't have a better word at the moment.

Our audience, it has been a more difficult process for classical music audiences around the world, and I'm not completely certain why.

I realized that the European dogma is not necessarily the only way to look at things.

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.

In Europe, there is so much tradition, and everyone has established ideas as to what art should be and what it has always been.

Conducting was just something that happened by fluke.

There is more openness in LA to possibilities than on the East Coast of America. There is a pioneering spirit there that stems from the reason people went out there in the first place-to find something new.