Esa-Pekka Salonen Quotes

I always felt that one day I would have to make the change in my own life, bite the bullet and see what it is to be a composer who conducts rather than the other way around.

I think we are in the process of getting the word out, and we haven't done very well yet. But we are trying.

Conducting was just something that happened by fluke.

If you think of the history, in the days of Brahms and Beethoven and all these guys, almost every concert was a new music concert. To play something old was really an exception.

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