I've always been very vocal, but there have been moments where I've found it difficult to negotiate things that are about gender.

I love meeting people and analysing their world. I like having a puzzle to solve. That's why I do so much work in advance. Even if it doesn't affect my performance in the end, I just find it so much more interesting if I've got as wide as possible an understanding of the material.

There are lots of moments that are great for an actress.

There's such a huge link with fashion, with front covers of magazines and selling products, but that's not what you go into the job for, and yet you're persuaded that's what you have to do to create the opportunities for yourself.

In the early days, when I first got into the WI team, when the Ws were playing, I would sit and watch. When you could learn from watching players like that, it was a great joy to watch them play.

I don't need to be validated by anybody else; I don't need to be accepted or approved of for my happiness.

The reason Joy Division and New Order are as influential and successful as they are is because of the unique playing of all the individuals.

I am the conductor for life of the Staatskapelle in Berlin, which fills me with tremendous joy because I feel absolutely at one with them. When we play, I have a feeling that together we manage to create one collective lung for the whole orchestra so that everybody in the stage breathes the music in the same way.