The North American

— there is energy that we lose and then get back. It’s a gift to give. When I see a society start to crumble. . . . For example, I was in Mexico in September with the orchestra going from one place to the next, an insane schedule. At one point we got on a bus at six in the morning that was to take us to the hall and we’re all super tired, somewhere around Guadalajara. The musicians began to realize that we’re not going the right way. We had been going in circles. So I went up to the driver and realized immediately that he had no clue.

‘You don’t know where we are,’ I said.

‘No,’ he said. So I got the map, someone had GPS, et cetera, and we had to get there at a certain time to start rehearsal. Time means money, and this guy couldn’t care less. He was like, ‘I don’t know,’ and he was stuck in traffic and not even making a decision.
I said, ‘Okay. That’s okay. Did you know where we were going when you started?’
He said, ‘No, I’ve never known where we’re going. I’m not from here.’ He didn’t care.
And I realized that this kid needs music in his life; this kid should have been in an orchestra because he has no sense of responsibility, no sense of taking care of others, no self-esteem. And when we arrived I talked to him. I said, ‘You know, you think that you wake up this morning not knowing what you’re doing and it’s going to be fine, because who cares? But you don’t know that taking us here late and not knowing what you’re doing is not only affecting us — on the bus — but there were people who worked decades to earn the money that was given to us to do this concert. And here we are. All these musicians are here wanting to do this, but they can’t because you are standing in the way. Now the musicians must be paid twice as much because of overtime.’ I said, ‘You know what? Wake up and know what you’re doing, not for yourself but for others.’ That’s when I further realized how much this country needs music.