Kids now are so used to surround sound and the power in theater speakers, that the concert hall is a disappointment to them.

People ordinarily don't think of their orchestras as important as we'd like them to be. People don't care about their friends and neighbors who sit down to commit excellence three or four times a year, but they will go see the tall bald guy with three names from television.

The simple act of sitting down and playing something enormously complex and spiritually uplifting on a harpsichord just bores kids to tears. There's no sizzle, there's no grab. But it's the great lesson of serious music, that it invites you to listen, rather than demands that you listen.

Because I don't take money, I'll go anywhere and do a benefit concert with almost any orchestra.

I was raised by very traditional Southern parents with Southern manners. You don't air your dirty laundry to people that aren't your family or your friends. Why would I ever want to portray myself as anything other than together?

Christmas comes during a season when the Earth is in its darkest time. It's a holiday for the family and for everyone.

I think it's important to be thinking about your personal life and your family not just when you've retired but also during your career.

My dad's whole family is in Madras and I was born in America so we didn't have that big Indian community. I don't really have anything interesting to say about it. When I talk about it people are like, 'meh, let's talk about something else.'