“Every time you play a great piece of music there is a new discovery. Every time.”

Mitsuko Uchida, pianist

“I am interested in music as ecstasy, as something that transports you away from the everyday to another place.”
Terry Riley, composer

“Perhaps many a composer of the past would be astonished at how over-cautious we are when we play their works.”

Helmut Deutsch, pianist

“Be open to the possibility of your ears and soul being challenged, be curious about how that may be done, be hungry for new sounds, be thirsty for what you don’t know yet”

James MacMillan, composer and conductor

“The purpose of art is the gradual, lifelong construction of a state of wonder and serenity.”

Glenn Gould, pianist

“Schnabel said Mozart is the most inaccessible of the great masters because with the fewest number of notes, he accesses the deepest levels of human awareness and experience.”

Leon Fleischer, pianist

“As you grow up, communicate more with scores than with virtuosi”

Robert Schumann

“At every concert I leave a lot to the moment. I must have the unexpected, the unforeseen. I want to risk, to dare. I want to be surprised by what comes out. I want to enjoy it more than the audience. That way the music can bloom anew.”
Arthur Rubinstein, pianist

“If you play music with passion and love and honesty, then it will nourish your soul, heal your wounds and make your life worth living. Music is its own reward.”

Sting (Gordon Summer, pop musician)

“Keep searching for that sound in your head until it becomes a reality” – Bill Evans, jazz pianist