As major orchestras around the world are gripped in various kinds of crises and upheaval, we need to be sure that we are bringing up this new generation.

I think this orchestra's strengths involve drama and voice.

It wasn't that I ever knew I'd be at the Met for 20 years, or 30 years, or 40 years, or anything like that

Most people treat the office manual the way they treat a software manual. They never look at it.

And so, little by little, I gradually divested myself of pretty nearly all of the guest conducting I used to do, because I was at the same time working in the places like the Met, where I could work in this sort of depth.

The Steinway pianos of today are the finest I have ever played.

There is no relationship between the gestures and what an orchestra will do.