I grew up in such a musical family, and my dad was the first chair in the Johannesburg Symphony Orchestra, and my mom was a piano teacher and a painter, so it was kind of a creative environment, and it was kind of in my DNA.

We were a very politically active family. My father was one of the first lawyers in South Africa to have a black partner, so I grew up very aware of the struggle going on. Coming from that background, it really gave me chills to have my music be a part of the election of the first black American president.

My dad's a scientist, and my mom's a teacher, so I didn't grow up in a family that was into the entertainment world at all.

Composers love to write for symphony orchestras because the symphony is the Rolls Royce of musical instruments.

The Russian composers, especially, tricked the symphony orchestra into the kind of dynamic, rhythmic thing.

My mom grew up in Kansas, my dad in Indiana. They had boring childhoods.