My whole thing is not just to play music for people, but to make them part of the evening.

I'm not one of those people who says, 'I never read reviews,' because I don't believe those people.

My show business career doesn't mean I can't write a symphony. It just means I was never asked to write one.

I started studying music at the age of five and a half. My older sister was taking piano lessons. When her teacher left our apartment, I would get up on the piano bench and start picking out the notes that were part of my sister's lessons

There have been studies that clearly state that children who are exposed to arts education at a young age will in fact do markedly better in their SAT tests

From the time I could play the piano, I remember trying to write tunes. They were in my head, and I would just sit down and start noodling. Next thing I knew, I had written a melody.

Many, many years ago, I was one of the few conductors who talked to the audience and now a lot of classical conductors have figured it out... otherwise, you just get the back of someone's head playing music you could hear on a CD. It's not enough anymore.