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

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.

I use my hands like a sculptor, to mold and shape the sound I want, to clarify.

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

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

There's not an orchestra in the world that doesn't have weaknesses. None of us can play everything well. The repertoire is just too big.

I have been long associated with British music. I have favoured it as my alternate music next to American.