“My teacher, my great cello teacher Leonard Rose, was such a great cellist, and nurturing man, very patient. But I grew up not only admiring him, but obviously Casals, Rostrotovich, Jacqueline du Pre, and many others, including many of my peers and contemporaries.”

“I think anybody who goes away finds you appreciate home more when you return.”

“I think that peace is, in many ways, a precondition of joy.”

“Things can fall apart, or threaten to, for many reasons, and then there's got to be a leap of faith. Ultimately, when you're at the edge, you have to go forward or backward; if you go forward, you have to jump together.”

“Passion is one great force that unleashes creativity, because if you're passionate about something, then you're more willing to take risks.”

“Good things happen when you meet strangers.”

“Mastering music is more than learning technical skills. Practicing is about quality, not quantity. Some days I practice for hours; other days it will be just a few minutes.”

“I think one of the great things about being a musician is that you never stop learning.”

“Music has always been transnational; people pick up whatever interests them, and certainly a lot of classical music has absorbed influences from all over the world.”

“The tango is really a combination of many cultures, though it eventually became the national music of Argentina.”

“I think of a piece of music as something that comes alive when it is being performed, and I feel that my role in the transmission of music is to be its best advocate at that moment.”