I came to Moscow when I was 5 years old from Baku. To walk all night in Moscow will bring back my youth to me.

All my life I wanted to play music with love to every member of the audience.

Now I want to use money in a good way. I make foundations back home in Russia, I have sponsored vaccinations for more than one million children in my homeland and I have founded scholarships in the names of my great Russian compatriots - Oistrakh, Richter, Gilels, Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Schnittke.

People are craving this great progress in electronics, going after computers, the Internet, etc. It's a giant progress technologically. But they must have a balance of soul, a balance for human beauty. That means art has an important role.

It is my aim, my destination in life to make the cello as beloved an instrument as the violin and piano.

You must play for the love of music. Perfect technique is not as important as making music from the heart.

I would rather have ideas and some difficulties of technique than a perfect technique and no ideas.