Classical music is a wonderful 1200 year-old tradition that witnesses everything that it has meant and what it means right now to be human.

When I first was conducting as guest conductor in Europe 25 years ago, I would propose doing American pieces and grudgingly it would be accepted from time to time.

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].

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.

You can't have Bach, Mozart and Beethoven as your favorite composers. They simply define what music is!

But if I can be convinced and then through the work that we do together, the orchestra can really be convinced of the big sweep of that communication that the piece suggests, then the audience will get it and it will be a good experience for all of us.

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