I've come to the conclusion that a long personal relationship is next to impossible for me. Ultimately, music is a possessive mistress.

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.

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

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

My first strong musical memory is of the Villa-Lobos Sixth Quartet which my parents were rehearsing. I remember that it reminded me of big teddy bears dancing around.

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.