Art Quote by Herbert von Karajan

You know, in some ways conducting is counter-intuitive. It's like winter driving in Finland - if you skid, the natural reaction is to fight…

— Esa-Pekka Salonen

Conducting is about communication. You don't play any notes, but you communicate with the musicians.

— Andris Nelsons

The real art of conducting consists in transitions.

— Gustav Mahler

In symphonic music, when you are conducting, you do the same thing. You are feeling the whole orchestra, thinking ahead so you can prepare…

— David Amram

Through conducting, you express through your arms, through your face and even the body, what you want to tell, so the musicians of the…

— Andris Nelsons

Conducting" is when you draw "designs" in the nowhere-with a stick, or with your hands-which are interpreted as "instructional messages" by guys wearing bow…

— Frank Zappa

Let me say that I've never thought to conduct because the conductor has to think to the music before the orchestra. And the orchestra…

— Andrea Bocelli

I have so much regard for the art of conducting. It's easy to look not so good up there.

— James Newton Howard

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

— Giuseppe Sinopoli

Conducting is a natural way to participate in one's own music. Almost every 19th-century composer Mendelssohn, Mahler was conducting or playing his own music.…

— Krzysztof Penderecki

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

— Clint Eastwood

Today, conducting is a question of ego: a lot of people believe they are actually playing the music.

— Daniel Barenboim