I think that of my 21 symphonies, each has its own place.

It's hard for me to think of others because I'm not particularly in sympathy with the music of this century.

I was much more interested in the orchestra than the piano, but I did become fairly proficient as a pianist and my teachers felt I had talent and wanted me to become a good concert pianist and earn my living that way.

I was born in Somerville, but I don't remember very much about it because we moved from there to Arlington when I was five years old, and it was in Arlington that I spent most of my childhood.

I had been composing but I didn't know I was. When I realized that this was what I had been doing, I began to take it seriously.

I found a greater identity with my own emotions in the Armenian culture as I grew older, as well as from the beginning, although I didn't know anything about it.