My only interest is in sharing great music with more and more people.

I first heard Mahler's second symphony aged 11 in Liverpool, and it inspired me to become a conductor.

I believe if you're not completely in love with what you're doing, you'd better find another profession.

Every orchestra has its own sound.

One of the most extraordinary and all-encompassing forms of communication is music. It reaches places that all kinds of other things cannot reach. I'll put my cards on the table: I think it is our greatest language.

The jazz records come out a lot. You find that with many musicians - we don't listen to our own music for relaxation.

The grapevine in England is an extraordinary thing. When there is a really brilliant young composer or soloist, we all hear about it.

I'd be much more likely to watch the latest Tarantino movie than to listen to a Mahler symphony.

It's interesting: composers can be very funny ducks.

Some of my favorite music in the world is Haydn. I had a sabbatical one year and made myself one promise: to play a different Haydn piano sonata each day - they are inexhaustible treasures.