I get no satisfaction just showing myself in every corner of the world every week.

I used to conduct the last opera in Berlin on Sunday, get on a plane on Monday to Chicago, and start a rehearsal that same night, if it was a performance week.

What the world is saying to us human beings is, 'Don't stick to the old ways, learn to think anew.' And that's what musicians do every day.

Every note is a lifetime for itself.

You don't go out and play Beethoven's 'Opus 111' without having rethought about it every time you play.

You find Jews, Irish, and Italians in every orchestra.