The challenge is not so much to change the sound. The challenge is to connect and to create something special.

It's not that people don't like classical music. It's that they don't have the chance to understand and to experience it.

I wanted to play my violin and have my musical expression through the instrument. But then I was really young when I had my first opportunity to conduct.

Whenever I listen to a children's orchestra, I learn. They feel everything, they enjoy everything, they have amazing energy.

When you play Mozart, it's so clean, it's so simple. It's the body naked.

A friend gave me a CD of the 'Pathetique' Symphony as a Christmas present. I went home, and I put on the CD expecting to listen to Tchaikovsky. But it started 'ta ta ta taaa.' It was too long for me. I didn't understand it at first, but then I fell in love, in love, in love.

I have eaten very well in Los Angeles. Marvelously!