The world changes when there's music in it.

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.

The world changes when there's music in it.

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.

But those musics do not address the larger kind of architecture in time that classical music does, whatever each one of us knows that classical music must mean.

This extraordinary group has absolutely captivated my imagination, knocked my socks off - what more can I say?