How could a New Yorker possibly take something called the Hollywood String Quartet seriously?

I don't really think about retiring. I will retire just before people start saying, 'I knew Leonard Slatkin when he conducted well.

I knew I could never match my father as a violinist, and there were already four generations of outstanding cellists in the family.

The conductor is the artistic leader and sometimes cultural arbiter of his or her community. It is their leadership that is looked to and should anything go wrong, they are the persons taking most of the heat.

We are a global society, and one does not have to be from Germany to give a great performance of Beethoven.

An orchestra knows during the first two minutes of the first rehearsal whether or not they are going to enjoy the person on the podium.

The convergence of the Rhone and Saone. Paul Bocuse. The birthplace of cinema. Chateauneuf-du-Pape just a few miles down the road. It does not get much better than Lyon.