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.

There is no 'perfect' in music. If I ever came off the stage and felt it could not be better, it would then be time to quit.

The life of any musician really doesn't fall into a normal schedule at all. Every week there are different rehearsals, different days and nights of performances, so we don't have a particular pattern that we can follow. For a conductor, it is a little bit worse because we have to allow for traveling.

I'm not particularly lucid after a concert. I'm not very lucid before, either.

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

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

I am usually cooking at least four times a week if I am home. The easiest thing that I do a lot is gazpacho. It's simple and it tastes best if you let it sit over night in the refrigerator... I don't want anybody near me when I am cooking. If I am going to make a mistake, it has to be my fault.