Conductor Quotes

I was different from most young conductors today.

— Kurt Masur

I played with the best conductors of the world.

— Mstislav Rostropovich

Zeal, the blind conductor of the will.

— John Dryden

New York for a long time was a kind of conductor's graveyard.

— Zubin Mehta

The conductor has the advantage of not seeing the audience.

— Andre Kostelanetz

Composing is like driving down a foggy road.

— Benjamin Britten

Did you play? It sounded very good.

— Eugene Ormandy

You are the conductor of your own success train.

— William Cranch Bond

I'm a conductor of revivals. The only minister in the whole package. Little Richard, the evangelist.

— Little Richard

The conductor of an orchestra doesn’t make a sound. He depends, for his power, on his ability to make other people powerful.

— Benjamin Zander

A conductor can't be too arrogant with an orchestra and try to impose himself too much.

— Anthony Hopkins

The conductor of an orchestra doesnt make a sound. He depends, for his power, on his ability to make other people powerful.

— Suman Rai

Musical practice is too young an art in America to warrant a search for men with a conductor's gift.

— Anton Seidl

To study music, we must learn the rules. To create music, we must break them.

— Nadia Boulanger

In truth, I became a conductor because deep down I wanted to conduct Brahmss four symphonies and Richard Strausss tone poems.

— Zubin Mehta

When the oldest surviving record company goes all in on a conductor, everyone notices.

— Andris Nelsons

A music director cannot and should not be chosen on the basis of a first date. It is not so difficult to…

— Leonard Slatkin

If you ever go to a music session, you'll notice that the musicians can sit down and start playing right away, and…

— Clint Eastwood

I'm a geek and I'm a nerd, and I can listen into any piece of music. I think, I can usually tell…

— Hans Zimmer

In South America, I heard the 8th Symphony of Beethoven. And the young conductor thought, Beethoven must be heroic. But this is…

— Kurt Masur

I, uh...I have a television, so I'm going to spend some time here to tell you some things. [To orchestra conductor:] And,…

— Julia Roberts

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

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

— Samuel Beckett

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

People sometimes ask me if I would not give anything to be white, I answer, in the words of the song, most…

— Bert Williams

It is not a lack of spiritual experience that leads to failure, but a lack of working to keep our eyes focused…

— Oswald Chambers

I think it's a very important collaboration between the conductor and the orchestra - especially when the conductor is one more member…

— Gustavo Dudamel

Today's parents have little authority over those others with whom they share the task of raising their children. On the contrary,most parents…

— Kenneth Keniston

“pulled out my Valery Gergiev trump card and said I would have to call him about getting another hotel. There are many…

— Renee Fleming

“Pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo. Shovel them under and let me work-- I am the grass; I cover all.…

— Carl Sandburg

Before Liszt, a conductor was someone who just facilitated the performance, who would keep people together or beat the time, indicate the…

— Stephen Hough

Flower god, god of the spring, beautiful, bountiful, Cold-dyed shield in the sky, lover of versicles, Here I wander in April Cold,…

— Robert Louis Stevenson

Direction is the most invisible part of the theatrical art. It's not like the conductor in the symphony orchestra performance because he's…

— Terry Teachout

Do you know why conductors live so long? Because we perspire so much.

— John Barbirolli

The conductor wielded the orchestra like a blunt instrument.

— John Lydon

And if you are strong enough, then you can grow as a conductor more and more.

— Kurt Masur

A conductor has to know how to translate music into a communicative force that makes the listener want to hear what he…

— Isaac Stern

The great actors are the luminous ones. They are the great conductors of the stage.

— Ethel Barrymore

Monet was like a conductor. He painted with quite a straight arm and used bold strokes.

— Richard Armitage

The success of our operas rests most of the time in the hands of the conductor. This person is as necessary as…

— Giuseppe Verdi