When people ask me how they should approach performance, I always tell them the professional musician should aspire to the state of the beginner.

I play an instrument that has four strings, and I'm still trying to get it right. What I've tried to do in the process of playing these four strings is to try and understand the people I meet, the stories they have to tell. And then become an advocate for them and their stories through music.

Culture opens our hearts to one another. And the currency in culture is not money, but trust.

But an innovation, to grow organically from within, has to be based on an intact tradition, so our idea is to bring together musicians who represent all these traditions, in workshops, festivals, and concerts, to see how we can connect with each other in music.

I think of a piece of music as something that comes alive when it is being performed, and I feel that my role in the transmission of music is to be its best advocate at that moment.

I think that peace is, in many ways, a precondition of joy.

There's a part of me that's always charging ahead. I'm the curious kid, always going to the edge.