I've learned a lot from the masters of orchestration, like Ravel and Stravinsky.

I always had, deep down, a slight aversion toward the purely cerebral in music.

I love a visceral sound, the kind that hits you in the belly.

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

Orchestras have become used to the emphasis on the separation of layers, of the ultimate precision and clarity.

I feel very free and very happy to be a composer.

I'm trying to conduct only five months a year, and the rest will be composing time. I'm trying to spend as much as I can out of those months here in L.A., because for creative work, this is a fantastic place.