A conductor should guide rather than command. — Riccardo Muti
Being a conductor is kind of a hybrid profession because most fundamentally, it is being someone who is a coach, a trainer, an editor, a director. — Michael Tilson Thomas
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
We are aware that the conductor is not really making the music, it is making him -- if he is relaxed, open and attuned, then the invisible will take possession of him; through him, it will reach us. — Peter Brook
Conductors must give unmistakable and suggestive signals to the orchestra, not choreography to the audience. — George Szell
The success of our operas rests most of the time in the hands of the conductor. This person is as necessary as a tenor or a prima donna. — Giuseppe Verdi
The art of conducting consists in knowing when to stop conducting to let the orchestra play. — Herbert von Karajan
A composer is a guy who goes around forcing his will on unsuspecting air molecules, often with the assistance of unsuspecting musicians. — Frank Zappa
In order to lead the orchestra, you must first turn your back to the crowd. — Mike Mentzer
The composer...joins Heaven and Earth with threads of sounds. — Alan Hovhaness
Composers should write tunes that chauffeurs and errand boys can whistle. — Thomas Beecham
I often conduct an orchestra in my sleep; my orchestras are so huge that the back desks of the violas vanish into the horizon. And everything is so wonderful. — Jean Sibelius
I'm conducting slowly because I don't know the tempo. — Eugene Ormandy
The bass player's function, along with the drums, is to be the engine that drives the car... everything else is merely colours. — Suzi Quatro
Short Conductors Quotes
I never ran my train off the track, and I never lost a passenger. — Harriet Tubman
To study music, we must learn the rules. To create music, we must break them. — Nadia Boulanger
Composing is like driving down a foggy road. — Benjamin Britten
Never miss an opportunity to teach; when you teach others, you teach yourself. — Itzhak Perlman
If you want to please the critics, don't play too loud, too soft, too fast, too slow. — Arturo Toscanini
Never look at the trombones, it only encourages them. — Richard Wagner
Aromatherapy without massage is like an orchestra without a conductor — Robert Tisserand
When I am with composers, I say I am a conductor. When I am with conductors, I say I am a composer. — Leonard Bernstein
Victor Hernandez, like an orchestral conductor directing his troops... — Jon Champion
I was the most famous conductor on the Underground Railroad. — Harriet Tubman
Conductors Image Quotes
Train Conductor Quotes
I was the conductor of the Underground Railroad for eight years, and I can say what most conductors can't say; I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger. — Harriet Tubman
There's a metal train that a mile long and at the very back end a lightning bolt struck her. How long til it reaches and kills the driver, provided that he's a good conductor? — Bo Burnham
You're about to be the conductor on the most brilliant, runaway train in showbiz. Good luck you'll love it. — Dermot O'Leary
[To the patronizing train conductor who had twice said, 'Auntie, give me your ticket':] Which of my sister's sons are you? — Mary Mcleod Bethune
A man gets on a train with his little boy, and gives the conductor only one ticket. 'How old's your kid?' the conductor says, and the father says, 'He's four years old.' 'He looks at least twelve to me,' says the conductor. And the father says, 'Can I help it if he worries? — Robert Benchley
There's nothing quite like a real . . . train conductor to add color to a quotidian commute — Anita Diament
Music Conductor Quotes
Music is a labyrinth with no beginning and no end,
full of new paths to discover,
where mystery remains eternal — Pierre Boulez
A good conductor ought to be a good chauffeur; the qualities that make the one also make the other. They are concentration, an incessant control of attention, and presence of mind; the conductor only has to add a little sense of music. — Sergei Rachmaninoff
The greatest contribution jazz has made in music has been to replace the role of the conductor with a member of the ensemble who, instead of waving his arms to keep time and convey mood, is an active member of the musical statement. That person is the drummer. — Elvin Jones
Music is the thousandth of a millisecond between one note and another; how you get from one to the other-that's where the music is. — Isaac Stern
Madam, you have between your legs an instrument capable of giving pleasure to thousands and all you can do is scratch it. — Thomas Beecham
Shared leadership... is less like a an orchestra, where the conductor is always in charge, and more like a jazz band, where leadership is passed around ... depending on what the music demands at the moment and who feels most moved by the spirit to express the music. — Phillip C. Schlechty
Is it not the business of the conductor to convey to the public in its dramatic form the central idea of a composition; and how can he convey that idea successfully if he does not enter heart and soul into the life of the music and the tale it unfolds? — John Philip Sousa
It is when music is added that a film can come to life for a director. A live orchestra, playing the score as a conductor watches the film on a huge screen, often gives a fimmaker the first real glimpse of his soon-to-be-completed work. That's where the magic is. — Robert Paul Wolff
[On being asked how it felt to be the first female conductor of the Boston Symphony:] I've been a woman for a little more than fifty years, and I've gotten over my original astonishment. — Nadia Boulanger
Conductors' careers are made for the most part with 'Romantic' music. 'Classic' music eliminates the conductor; we do not remember him in it. — Igor Stravinsky
Orchestra Conductor Quotes
[conductor Eugene Ormandy introduces Warfield to the audience in an unintentionally humorous way:] With us tonight is William Warfield, who is with us tonight. He is a wonderful man, and so is his wife. — Eugene Ormandy
So, first you have to be able to play with a metronome. Then you take your freedom. If you play in an orchestra, you got to watch the conductor, he is like a metronome, but it is more difficult because he can change rhythms. — Ruggiero Ricci
A conductor should reconcile himself to the realization that regardless of his approach or temperament the eventual result is the same-the orchestra will hate him. — Oscar Levant
The director is a bit analogous to the conductor of a symphony orchestra. It's a collaborative adventure. — Nicholas Meyer
There's power in the collective. If you don't believe me, just watch a symphony orchestra with a conductor and 120 people who are thinking about exactly the same thing at the same moment - no babies, no stock markets, no mortgages. Just 32nd notes. — Quincy Jones
I always imagined that to bring an orchestra to play together is not enough for a conductor. — Kurt Masur
Great cataclysmic things can go by and neither the orchestra nor the conductor are under the delusion that whether they make this or that gesture is going to be the deciding factor in how it comes out. — James Levine
I don't feel that the conductor has real power. The orchestra has the power, and every member of it knows instantaneously if you're just beating time. — Itzhak Perlman
Only when every one of us and every nation learns the secret of love for all mankind will the world become a great orchestra, following the beat of the Greatest Conductor of all. — Artur Rodzinski
On the other hand, when I give it closer thought, I realize I'm not enough of a dictator to conduct an orchestra because it requires a pretty awful person. When you read these biographies of famous conductors, they are all awful people who fail in their private relationships. — Eberhard Weber
So much of what we do is ephemeral and quickly forgotten, even by ourselves, so it's gratifying to have something you have done linger in people's memories. — John Towner Williams
It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but that you are a conductor of light. Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it. — Arthur Conan Doyle
Journalists were never intended to be the cheerleaders of a society, the conductors of applause, the sycophants. Tragically, that is their assigned role in authoritarian societies, but not here - not yet. — Chet Huntley
The very first time I was on a car in Atlanta, I saw the conductor - all conductors are white - ask a Negro woman to get up and take a seat farther back in order to make a place for a white man. I have also seen white men requested to leave the Negro section of the car. — Ray Stannard Baker
Today we can establish Sharia law because our nation will acquire well-being only with Islam and Sharia. The Muslim Brothers and the Freedom and Justice Party will be the conductors of these goals. — Mohammed Morsi
I deny that either singers or conductors can "create" or work creatively - this, as I have always said, is a conception that leads to the abyss. — Giuseppe Verdi
The conductor's stand is not a continent of power, but rather an island of solitude. — Riccardo Muti
I find little in the works of Beethoven, Berlioz, Wagner and others when they are led by a conductor who functions like a windmill. — Franz Liszt
Technique is communication: the two words are synonymous in conductors. — Leonard Bernstein
The principal task of a conductor is not to put himself in evidence but to disappear behind his functions as much as possible. We are pilots, not servants. — Franz Liszt
I was afraid to board a streetcar because of the conductor; I was afraid to enter the Kabuki Theater for fear of the usherettes standing along the sides of the red-carpeted staircase at the main entrance; I was afraid to go into a restaurant because I was intimidated by the waiters furtively hovering behind me waiting for my plate to be emptied. — Osamu Dazai
Young conductors who are confident enough, they very often have success. — Kurt Masur
The great actors are the luminous ones. They are the great conductors of the stage. — Minnie Maddern Fiske
Conductors do not know how the oboe does its work, but they know what the oboe should contribute. — Peter Drucker
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. — Blaine Lee
The great leaders are like the best conductors - they reach beyond the notes to reach the magic in the players. — Blaine Lee Pardoe
In Conclusion
Which quotation resonated with you best? Did you enjoy our collection of conductors quotes? Or may be you have a slogan about conductors to suggest. Let us know using our contact form.
Citation
Feel free to cite and use any of the quotes in this collection of conductors quotations. For popular citation styles(APA, Chicago, MLA), please use this citation page.
