You don't have to have lots of love affairs to know what love is.

You're a constant student, as a musician.

A conductor can do wild things which can feel forced, but if you're directing from within the orchestra, you can't do that, things have to feel natural.

For some reason I can't explain, artist and musicians tend to look younger than our age. Being in music, you need this youthful sense of discovery and wonder for what you're doing and keep your imagination open. That's a youthful way of looking at life and I think that reflects in how you age.

I mean, the great secret is that an orchestra can actually play without a conductor at all. Of course, a great conductor will have a concept and will help them play together and unify them.

I use Facebook quite a lot to keep up with my friends, although I had to delete 'Words With Friends' from my phone because it was wasting too much of my time.

I'm in a position where, theoretically, I could play the same ten concertos and make a very good living bouncing around playing Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky and Barber, but I really think artists should keep pushing limits and trying new things.

In art and music, particularly in the 20th century, there was a big period there where for something to be called profound you had to not be able to understand it.

You only live once, so I try to say yes to everything.

Although I hardly ever turn on the TV set unless it's football season, I do watch a lot of TV on my iPad - perfect for long airplane journeys.

At a music hall, I'll get upset if someone coughs or if someone's cellphone goes off.

Conducting is a strange thing to teach.

I don't want to portray myself as a daredevil. I'm not at all.

I grew up in a musical family, but nobody was a professional musician.

I hope I will always have the chance to play the violin.

I like trying things, I am kind of adventurous and I like thrill seeking.

I like working with kids because I enjoy seeing the looks on their faces and, it's kind of selfish, I want a future audience.

I love the outdoor festival feeling.

I never had any real expectations about what sort of success I would have or all the publicity.

I want to do everything. That's my problem.