“'Partita' is a simple piece. Born of a love of surface and structure, ...” — Caroline Shaw Quote

'Partita' is a simple piece. Born of a love of surface and structure, of the human voice, of dancing and tired ligaments, of music, and of our basic desire to draw a line from one point to another.

There's a bit of a new guard of contemporary classical musicians in New York, and we play a lot of different kinds of music together. We do pop studio sessions, and we'll also play John Cage and more avant-garde work. We're developing a language of music that comes with a lot of different styles, different kinds of work.

I guess I'd like people to be able to forget a lot of things and just enjoy the beauty of harmony and melody for a moment.

I've been singing with Roomful of Teeth since the beginning in 2009, and it's a really mind-blowingly wonderful vocal ensemble. Very brave and very creative, and they're some of my closest friends.

People in very high places suddenly fall, and we are always surprised because we don't factor in the basic element that they're humans and, therefore, they are flawed and have weaknesses.

With women, there's a basic female instinct of caring deeply about the way they look; women stars have a narcissist complex.

At the most basic level, if men have institutional power, they have tremendous influence to change those institutions.

It's a very basic, simple idea, isn't it - saying thank you, saying sorry - and in the overcomplicated, over-busy world we live in it is very powerful.

I try and put in a weights section one day a week. I'd go to a different gym and work with a different coach: squatting, bench press, dead lifts. Just basic work. Pull-ups. Ground work. A lot of sit-ups and a lot of push-ups.