You don't underestimate either players or audience in any circumstances.

I'm very interested, for instance, in music in education - getting young people not only to listen to, but participate in the music that I write. I consider this one of the most vital aspects of my work.

I'm not actually teaching any more, but I am writing pieces for schools all the time, and for kids.

I'm obviously very keen on the theater and I think it's inevitable that some of the orchestral and chamber pieces have got dramatic elements which might even suggest an unspecified dramatic plot of some kind or other, even though it's not in my mind at the time.

You can't pander to your audience. You might in the short term, but ultimately you can't hoodwink them, either.

If you aim at anything lower that is expecting your audience to be really alert and aware, then you're going to be caught out sooner or later as a composer.

If you don't get feedback from your performers and your audience, you're going to be working in a vacuum.