Where my tastes in music are concerned, I'm a real maximalist.

Working mothers do an hour more per day than working fathers do and working mothers do on average an hour more per day with the kids than working fathers do.

And so, little by little, I gradually divested myself of pretty nearly all of the guest conducting I used to do, because I was at the same time working in the places like the Met, where I could work in this sort of depth.

There is no relationship between the gestures and what an orchestra will do.

My hunch is that probably men are doing more both outside the home and inside the home.

What's interesting is that both men and women are struggling with this issue in remarkably similar percentages, but the big difference is that women tend to talk about this when men keep it silent.

Art has never been a popularity contest.

If you factor in not just who's doing what at home, but how much more time working fathers are spending on work outside the home, on average they spend two hours more per day outside the home.

But the important thing is to lie down and fall asleep. That little nap means you wake up fresh again and can continue.

It wasn't that I ever knew I'd be at the Met for 20 years, or 30 years, or 40 years, or anything like that.

It was just that we had this phenomenal honeymoon relationship that just kept on going.

Everybody blames the culture without taking responsibility.

And, over the last thirty years we have seen men's participation in both housework and childcare has increased and women's have stayed at about the same.

They've really got to recognize that all of us bring some of our family issues to work and our work home.

It has to be able to play at the maximum expression and communication in every style, and the only way you can do that is - like Verdi said - working with a file, every day, little by little, until the orchestra's collective qualities emerge.

We do not seem to be finding tomorrow's Toscas.

I grew up in an era where an orchestra was like a treasure chest.

We're in the midst of an evolution, not a revolution.

Great cataclysmic things can go by and neither the orchestra nor the conductor are under the delusion that whether they make this or that gesture is going to be the deciding factor in how it comes out.

At my age, you are naturally inclined towards teaching.

Women tend to have recognition and peer group support - recognition from friends and family that this has to be a big issue in their lives. They're more comfortable expressing the need for support and receiving it.

When they are performing in front of the public, they ought to have a sensation that's relatively easy, if the technical and the interpretive work was done before.

I think this orchestra's strengths involve drama and voice.

The invisible dilemma is that men face the very real problem that they don't feel comfortable bringing these issues up and they tend not to be acknowledged at work.

I have a big problem with conductors who gesture a lot.

Where my tastes in music are concerned, I'm a real maximalist.

So, the total number of hours spent on the stuff you have to do to take care of a family, working and caring for stuff at home, the total number of hours is actually about the same for mothers and fathers.

A lot of people get impatient with the pace of change.

As major orchestras around the world are gripped in various kinds of crises and upheaval, we need to be sure that we are bringing up this new generation.

It's just that, when the orchestra look at me, I want them to see a completely involved person who reflects what we rehearsed, and whose function is to make it possible for them to do it.

More and more couples are having this negotiation or discussion, but I'm still amazed at the number who aren't and where the cultural norm sort of kicks in and they just assume that mom's got to be the one who stays home, not dad.

We found that when people put this issue on the table, it turns out that men acknowledge the issue, and employers and employees can work out solutions just as working mothers do.

Employee fathers need to step up to the plate and put their family needs on the table.

You try on purpose to get players with different qualities which will rub off on one another.

I was lucky that I met the right mentors and teachers at the right moment.

I can imagine wanting to work with this ensemble and this company always.

Second, if you're the boss, just because they don't ask doesn't mean your employees don't have needs.

I thought I'd write one book and the world would change overnight.

Most people treat the office manual the way they treat a software manual. They never look at it.

Were in the midst of an evolution not a revolution.

When you use music to worship you are not attempting to entertain.

Pop music, disco music, and heavy metal music is about shutting out the tensions of life, putting it away.

When I did the record, I was coming off a time when my contract had been sold and the music industry had changed a lot. I didn't understand how to make records for big labels. I was waiting for a new kind of record label to emerge.

You've got to realize. In the western world, regardless of what color you are, what title the music is, it's all played by the same notes.

Don't make music for some vast, unseen audience or market or ratings share or even for something as tangible as money. Though it's crucial to make a living, that shouldn't be your inspiration. Do it for yourself.

Whether I'm doing music or I'm walking down the street or I'm in a record store buying a record or I walk into a comic store and I'm buying comics or having a drink with my friends, it's the same me.

When rock came along the lyrics and melodies became less important and it bothered me to think that perhaps they might not regain the value they have to music - they are music.

I want to promote poetry to the point where you got all the baldhead kids running around doing poetry, getting the music out of the way and having only words, the spoken word, and then see what happens.

There is no music that can't be used politically, but the motives behind the creation of that music can be non-political.