Part of my mission is simply that: to bring the world of the arts, particularly classical music, closer to people so they don't feel that it is something remote that they have to specially prepare themselves for, or dress up for.

The way you survive in the performing arts is by having a sense of your audience, and doing things which entertain and satisfy the audience, but in a more important way, cause the audience to question many things.

If you're alive, you have all the experience necessary to understand classical music.

The whole path of American music has been so much about the recognition of stylistic diversity, and the recognition of the importance of music which was from one of the vernacular traditions.

Part of my big message with all this is that if you are alive, you know all you need to know about the message of classical music, because more than any other music, it is about the way life really is.

One of my central maxims is how a major part of what a conductor tries to do is get a large group of people to agree on where "now" actually is.

If you're curious, if you have a capacity for wonder, if you're alive, you know all that you need to know [about music].