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.

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

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.

I never studied, but I had the best teachers.

Explain to me, please, why in our literature and art so often people absolutely incompetent in this field have the final word.

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

When I started learning the cello, I fell in love with the instrument because it seemed like a voice - my voice.