Los Angeles is a very special city. It's a great ethnic mix, a great cultural mix.

You learn a lot about each other from a tour, musically and humanly.

I studied music since I was four years old, and from that moment I became part of a family. And that family has taught me things; not only musical things, but things I have to face in life, and that is where the success of the system lies

When people feel that something really special is happening on the stage, things change.

I think the atmosphere of a Prom concert can change your life, in the best way. It's so deep, the feeling you have there. The audience is so close, and there are so many of them, that you feel they are almost embracing you.

In my imagination yes, I remember, when I was six years old, I was conducting all this concert in my house. But now it's real.

My relationship with the Philharmonia Orchestra brought me many times to London and I will always reflect positively on that early period of development with them - their patience, their warmth, their dedication.