Conductor Quotes · Page 3

There's only one woman I know of who could never be a symphony conductor, and that's the Venus de Milo.

— Margaret Hillis

Young conductors who are confident enough, they very often have success.

— Kurt Masur

When I am with composers, I say I am a conductor. When I am with conductors, I say I am a composer.

— Leonard Bernstein

I find little in the works of Beethoven, Berlioz, Wagner and others when they are led by a conductor who functions like…

— Franz Liszt

The (photographic) negative is the equivalent of the composers score and the print is the equivalent of the conductors performance.

— Ansel Adams

I can't even touch another conductor's baton. The center of gravity, the feel of the handle, puts me totally off.

— Jeffrey Tate

There's nothing quite like a real . . . train conductor to add color to a quotidian commute

— Anita Diament

“Many say, "We march to the beat of our drum," yet no one bothered to ask who's the conductor!”

— Erick "The Black Sheep" G

Habit is a compromise effected between the individual and his environment, or between the individual and his own organic eccentricities, the guarantee…

— Samuel Beckett

A great conductor is an alchemical force: someone who can absorb the historical weight of a famous melody, the expectations of an…

— Sue Perkins

Classic music somehow changed, and it changed between the first and the second world wars, and somehow what happened was that the…

— Esa-Pekka Salonen

The eloquence of one stimulates all the rest, some up to the speaking-point, and all others to a degree that makes them…

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Of course, all people have their own reasons for believing what they do about gender. In my case, in over two decades…

— Michael Hersch

Every purely natural object is a conductor of divinity, and we have but to expose ourselves in a clean condition to any…

— John Muir

A great conductor possesses that certain charisma and talent that demand the ears and the attention of an audience. I can't tell…

— Isaac Stern

The symphony orchestra had played poorly, so the conductor was in a bad mood. That night he beat his wife--because the music…

— George Carlin

I went to school in drag, in art school and my day was completely different because everybody thought I was a chick.…

— Gerard Way

I always maintain that playing in an orchestra intelligently is the best school for democracy. If you play a solo, the conductor…

— Daniel Barenboim

At every moment, each instrument knew what to play. Its little bit. But none could see the whole thing like this, all…

— Janet Fitch

Conductor, when you receive a fare, Punch in the presence of the passenjare. A blue trip slip for an eight-cent fare, A…

— Mark Twain

Along the way [Mozart] got married; fathered seven children (two of whom survived into adulthood); performed as a pianist; violinist; and conductor;…

— Robert Greenberg

Boulez's only concern is with power. He lost the leadership of the avant-guard more than ten years ago to Stockhausen. Now others…

— Lukas Foss

As the bus slowed down at the crowded bus stop, the Pakistani bus conductor leaned from the platform and called out, "Six…

— Edwin Francis Gay

People have an affinity towards things, and you don't know where it comes from. Mozart wrote a symphony when he was four,…

— William Shatner

Music is a labyrinth with no beginning and no end, full of new paths to discover, where mystery remains eternal

— Pierre Boulez

This year - a factory of semiconductors. Next year - a factory of whole conductors!

— Todor Zhivkov

The great leaders are like the best conductors - they reach beyond the notes to reach the magic in the players..

— Anonymous

Drummers are conductors - we set the pace for the music - so if you're not relaxed and feeling right, the whole…

— Steven Adler

The conductor's stand is not a continent of power, but rather an island of solitude.

— Riccardo Muti

I always imagined that to bring an orchestra to play together is not enough for a conductor.

— Kurt Masur

Conductors do not know how the oboe does its work, but they know what the oboe should contribute.

— Peter Drucker

Acting is just playing the violin in an orchestra. Directing is being the conductor.

— Jason Bateman

The conductor must make it possible to eliminate himself in the music. If the orchestra feels him doing that, then everything will…

— Giuseppe Sinopoli

The whole duty of a conductor is comprised in his ability to indicate the right tempo.

— Richard Wagner

If you want to please the critics, don't play too loud, too soft, too fast, too slow.

— Arturo Toscanini

Somehow, conductor as this superhuman conduit between the masters and the masterpieces and the immortals.

— Esa-Pekka Salonen

For me, the conductor is a person who interprets along with me, and we interpret things together.

— Hilary Hahn

There's nothing more frustrating than seeing a conductor say, 'Play softer,' as they're waving their hands in huge gestures.

— Joshua Bell

You're about to be the conductor on the most brilliant, runaway train in showbiz. Good luck you'll love it.

— Dermot O'Leary

I have three siblings. My sister makes music. My older brother is a classical conductor, and my younger brother is a mixing…

— Lisa Loeb