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

For me to rehearse with a children's orchestra a Mahler symphony was to really work. We had three or four weeks of rehearsal with the orchestra, every day eight or nine hours, putting the First together. I had been conducting Tchaikovsky a lot and Beethoven, but Mahler was different.

I want to work with the big orchestras. I want to have a big family.

I set out to create a means whereby music could be a way of vindicating the rights of the masses.

Going to a concert can sometimes be very difficult. It can be a long journey. There's the ticket prices. But when the music goes to the community - not the community coming to the concert - they say, 'Wow! I didn't know that this music was so amazing!

With an orchestra you are building citizens, better citizens for the community.

For me, Venezuela is very important, not just because it's a place I go to conduct, but because my family is there - my wife, my parents and my musical family.