Soccer and sports are entertainment ... You can't call Beethoven's 9th Symphony or a work of Shakespeare `entertainment.' It's not `entertainment.' It's culture.

A conductor should guide rather than command.

You have to be able to enthral and persuade at the same time.

Music does not know the difference between people; it only speaks to their hearts. It is the only form of communication that can bring this terrible world together.

It is extraordinary to have time to again study Le nozze di Figaro and discover new things.

You have to channel the interpretation and performance into 100 people. And with the audience, the critics.

I'm not shy in the spotlight. I might seem austere and even arrogant, but far from it, I'm actually shy.