I started conducting lessons and I realized that this is actually something I like doing.

Once you get over the first hill, there is always a new, higher one lurking, of course.

There will have to be times when I'm not conducting because I'm composing. I haven't solved that problem, and perhaps I never will.

Orchestras have become used to the emphasis on the separation of layers, of the ultimate precision and clarity.

As we watch TV or films, there are no organic transitions, only edits. The idea of A becoming B, rather than A jumping to B, has become foreign.

The act of conducting in itself, of waving my arms in the air and being in charge, I didn't miss. I missed the sensual pleasure of being in contact with music.

My music wouldn't sound the way it does if I hadn't had the experience of conducting.

Pulse as an active means of expression, Stravinsky and Beethoven are the two masters of that.

This conducting thing happened. In 1983 I was sucked into this international career, which was a very scary experience.

I discovered that the people of the North are different and there's no way you can make a person from the North similar to a Southerner. They're two different worlds.

I feel very free and very happy to be a composer.

I couldn’t even tell if I had any sadness of my own, because I was so full of Abuelita’s sadness.

the most dangerous enemy is that which no one fears!

If the truth were known, many sermons are prepared and preached with more regard for the sermon than the souls of the hearers.

Time is made up of various ages; and each thinks its own a novelty.

I am always with myself, and it is I who am my tormentor.

I identify with the 99 per cent.

I really love country music, just this idea of three chords and the truth.

He made her feel like more than the sum of her parts.

The stars awaken a certain reverence, because though always present, they are inaccessible.

It is a peculiarity of man that he can only live by looking to the future.