I'd studied piano first and switched over to cello when I was about seven. I played mostly chamber and solo classical music. I got really involved with rock music when I was a teenager. I wired up my cello.

The way I listen to music goes in waves depending on a lot of things. How busy I am, if I'm in between composition projects, if I'm starting a new project. So, the only time I listen to the radio for music is with my daughter's when I'm driving them to school, or driving them somewhere.

England has had a lot of really bad periods of music, but it's had several amazing periods where they've found an incredible balance, not just between music that's a rather complex and also pretty direct. Like the Beatles.

The English learned, in my view, how to use harmony much earlier than the French or the Italians, or the Germans.

The one obvious thing is that the devices are so good now that you can also see their limitations extremely well.

After a year, I thought gee I don't really need college anymore, which wasn't correct, but that's what I thought.

I never liked opera growing up. I always liked chamber music or solo music even more than orchestral music.