Anat Cohen

“I could never really figure out why people would live in a kibbutz. I'm such a city girl.”

“My everyday life is not just walking around on clouds. But you have to give the really special things in life importance and not let the temporary things roll you off the road.”

“My father had lived in the States in the 1960s for a while and came to love American Songbook material. Even today, he sometimes recognizes singers that I never even heard of, which is beautiful and inspiring.”

“I have an ambivalent feeling about the Israeli army. Growing up in Tel Aviv, being involved in the arts, the last thing artists want to do is fight.”

“I feel like sometimes I get even more goofy onstage than I am offstage. I'm not trying to make the music less than what it is. Even if it's hard for me and I have to think about a lot of details, it's none of the audience's business. I don't want them to feel that I'm having a hard time.”

“Avishai my brother always says to the audience, 'If you weren't here, it would just be a rehearsal.' So it's important to me to acknowledge and engage them. I know that they are there for me, and I'm humbled by that.”

“Sometimes I get off stage, and I almost have no recollection of what happened. It's almost like a trance; it's very bizarre.”

“When I play the clarinet, I am 100 percent myself. It is as if it is part of my body. I can play whatever I think. Let me just read a melody and make it as sweet as I can.”

“I prefer to solve conflict with kindness. That's my first approach. If that doesn't work, there's always the alternative. I'm from Israel. I can tell a person what I think if I have to!”

“I have two brothers that are musicians. My older brother, Yuval, is a saxophone player. My younger brother, Avishai, is a trumpet player.”

“I'm helping people think the clarinet is cool.”

“There are a lot of Israeli musicians in New York because you want to grow and go onstage, and eventually you have to get out of Israel to do that because there aren't enough places to play.”

“My father knew classical music very well. Driving in the car, listening to the radio, he could name every composer, every movement, what piece it was. I was fascinated by the way he recognized who wrote what.”

“I've always been attracted to multicultural music. It's where the world is going.”

“I think maybe the only time I think of being a woman... is being on the road and making sure my musicians are fed and they sleep. 'Are you OK? Do you need some water? Are you hungry? Can I get you a cookie?' I'm not sure all the men bandleaders do that.”

“I flow between modern and traditional jazz, between samba and choro - all maybe in a week's time.”

“To me, music is a luminous experience. Whenever I'm immersed in it, life lights up for me, no matter what else is going on.”

“My parents never said to me, 'Why don't you go and get a real profession?' And that really helped.”

“Clarinet is often associated with certain genres, like swing or folk music. I combine the old and new, using the clarinet as an expressive tool and not in one genre. I'm just happy that people are drawn to what I do.”

“I definitely see myself as an international musician. When I play, I respect the source of the music, whether it's Cuban, Brazilian or Israeli. I try to bring that to all of the music I play. Music has no borders and no flags.”