Wine snobbery, of course, is part showmanship, part sophistication, part knowledge, and part bluff

We musicians, like everyone else, are numb with sorrow at this murder, and with rage at the senselessness of the crime. But this sorrow and rage will not inflame us to seek retribution; rather they will inflame our art. Our music will never again be quite the same. This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before. And with each note we will honor the spirit of John Kennedy, commemorate his courage, and reaffirm his faith in the Triumph of the Mind.

A work of art does not answer questions, it provokes them; and its essential meaning is in the tension between the contradictory answers.

Einstein said that "the most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious." So why do so many of us try to explain the beauty of music, thus depriving it of its mystery?

A liberal is a man or a woman or a child who looks forward to a better day, a more tranquil night, and a bright, infinite future.

To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time.

Life without music is unthinkable. Life without music is academic. That is why my contact with music is a total embrace.