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

If somebody had told me when I was starting composition in Helsinki in the '70s that I would end up in L.A. and to describe that journey, those 17 years with the philharmonic and building the hall and this and that, I would have said, "This is a fairy tale of the first order."

When an artist works today or whenever, it's not about creating immortal masterpieces, because that's the one thing we don't decide ourselves.

There will have to be times when I'm not conducting because I'm composing. I haven't solved that problem, and perhaps I never will.

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

Lots of really interesting people move to U.S and decide to work here, because of this whole attitude and openness. I'm absolutely convinced that this is just the beginning. In a couple decades we will see an even more dramatic change.

I started conducting lessons and I realized that this is actually something I like doing.