“Anyone who composes and conducts at the same time is immediately suspe...” — Esa-Pekka Salonen Quote

“Anyone who composes and conducts at the same time is immediately suspect, because he must be faking one or the other.”

“Music has just as much to do with movement and body as it does soul and intellect.”

“Once you get over the first hill, there is always a new, higher one lurking, of course.”

“After working with Ligeti I began to hear Brahms and Beethoven differently.”

“I don't believe in an annual dose of film music for the sake of it being film music. If we program film music, it will be because there is a real artistic reason for doing so.”

“I'm still disturbed if a chord isn't together, but your priorities change as you get older.”

“I want to enjoy not getting recognised while it lasts. But the mask is a symbol of unity. Anyone can be a Walker.”

“When I say I want to photograph someone, what it really means is that I'd like to know them. Anyone I know I photograph.”

“Anyone who thinks they're indispensible is fooling themselves.”

“Mama was a country woman with a whole lot of common sense. She understood what most of our neighbors didn't - that I shouldn't grow dependent on anyone except myself. 'One of these days, I ain't gonna be here,' she kept hammering inside my head.”

“I have always told my daughters not to be dependent on anyone in any capacity.”

“It's paradoxical, that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn't appeal to anyone.”