I was lucky enough to have parents who started me on music very early, but most kids don't get that kind of exposure.

Although I hardly ever turn on the TV set unless it's football season, I do watch a lot of TV on my iPad - perfect for long airplane journeys.

Over the years, I've collected a lot of musical friends.

I don't want to portray myself as a daredevil. I'm not at all.

There are some days I take my violin out and it feels dreadful, like nothing is responding, and I want to sell it and get rid of it. And the next day suddenly the skies open up and the sound is glorious again. So it's like a relationship: There are good days and bad days.

If you mess up the tiniest little thing in the Beethoven concerto, or the phrasing isn't just exactly perfectly executed, Beethoven brings out the worst in the best violinist. You almost never hear a satisfying performance, because it doesn't play itself.

When you play for ticket-holders, you are already validated. I have no sense that I need to be accepted. I'm already accepted.