Joshua Bell

“I like blackjack. I like the psychology of poker.”

“I've always been accused of moving around too much when I play concertos. Sometimes, conductors ask me which of us is leading.”

“I do basically what a conductor does with a baton, except I also play along with the orchestra. So I have to juggle the roles of playing the concertmaster; sometimes I drop the violin and wave my arms.”

“I've been touring for 25 years. I'm used to it, so I love it. Although I feel the tug of home, as I have three little kids, I don't suffer like some artists who constantly complain about how much they hate traveling.”

“I approach everything as chamber music. Even with Beethoven symphonies, I lead from the violin and basically encourage the orchestra to think of it as a giant string quartet.”

“I kind of alternate between conducting and playing and kind of juggling those things, but I don't use a baton.”

“Bach's music is really some of the greatest. I think, in some ways, Bach is the most profound composer of all.”

“Good conductors know when to push and when to lay back. I've known so many great conductors that I'm still doing what I can to learn the craft of this role.”

“I want to do everything. That's my problem. Life is short, and I hate the idea of turning down anything. You never know what interesting experience might happen.”

“Criticism is always hard to take - we musicians are sensitive. It's always hard when someone says something negative - but you try to learn to just let it roll off and not worry about it.”

“Playing the Beethoven symphonies, for example, is a consummate experience for a musician because Beethoven speaks so directly to who we are as people.”

“We live in the least ugly time in history.”

“As my career has gone on, I guess I've become more well known. I'm playing to fuller halls in general, which is a nice feeling. When you're doing that, you're going to have a certain number of people who are not just the hardcore classical fanatics, and this makes me very happy.”

“The orchestra confides in me about their music director or their conductor, and I've never seen a conductor that's been liked by everyone.”

“In 1987, I had no idea who Steven Isserlis was. We met at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina. It was originally just an Italian summer festival, but for the past 14 years, there's also been a spring festival in America.”

“People wrote the most beautiful things during the ugliest times.”

“As far as I'm concerned, I want to do everything because life is short. So, when I did 'The Red Violin' film, I got to go to the Oscars, and I got to meet Samuel Jackson, and I got to do stuff that one wouldn't normally do in my world.”

“It's interesting about classical music that the more you hear something, the more you get to know a piece, the better and better it gets, period, which is just an interesting thing on it.”

“I grew up in a musical family, but nobody was a professional musician.”

“For me, I'm sort of a wanna-be composer, and I love being involved with the arrangements.”