I was always a rebel in the sense that I always wanted to go my own road and do something that nobody else has done.

I'm interested in music that happens now and that relates to our lives now.

I want to create endless possibilities with this cello. I become the medium through which the music is being channeled.

I decided that I wanted to explore all kinds of music with my cello, not just the Western classical tradition. I just wanted to try and expand my vocabulary and bring that different kind of music to my audience.

A person can do a lot of reading and research as I have done. I went to Spain and spent a whole summer there with my family, immersing myself in the culture. But all that isn't really necessary to experience the music.

I grew up in a kibbutz in the Galilee, but we were surrounded by Arabic villages, so I heard all these sounds and all this music. My father was very close friends with one of the Bedouin tribes, so I would always go there, to weddings, and I was always very fascinated by that music.

It's wonderful when music is intellectually stimulating. But ultimately it has to be a visceral experience.