Beethoven, Schubert, Schoenberg, Berg imply a type of pianist who is intellectual. That's not always associated with female soloists.

I frequently find after a rehearsal of a performance that I have more breath, and can walk better and climb stairs better than I could before. It's as if I've expanded my lungs doing it. Basically speaking, conducting is quite a healthy profession.

I had a sense of debt to the medical profession and to surgery particularly. I would not be as ambient as I am without it.

I can't even touch another conductor's baton. The center of gravity, the feel of the handle, puts me totally off.