Jan Vogler Quotes
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Our biggest catastrophe was that Dresden was destroyed in the war. But the message of the city is that wounds of war can heal, and people can live in peace.
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I remember my first time coming to New York City. It was 1986, and I was on a U.S. tour with a stop at Lincoln Center. It was love at first sight.
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My favorite exhibition of all time was at The Met years ago, called 'Glitter and Doom: German Portraits from the 1920s.'
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New York is the opposite of East Germany, the crown of individuality. That's why I can work well here and find out what I personally think of the pieces I'm learning. I can lay aside all the baggage of German education. In any case, whatever I do, I can't lose it altogether.
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I sometimes joke - but the joke is not so wrong - that after my time in East Germany, I could either afford therapy to work through what happened under the Communists or move to New York.
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In Berlin... it's important to present a concert that will change their ears... so if you present a Tchaikovsky symphony, you get almost no audience.
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There's no place that communicates as much - and as quickly - as Times Square does. I see the roiling energy and its forceful race into the future. Of course, after 15 minutes, I want to get as far away from there as possible.
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There was no such thing as a solo career in East Germany. You had to get the best orchestra job that you could.
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Cultural activity is what makes us human.
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I tried to play Piazzolla's 'Grand Tango' at 20 and failed miserably. You need a little experience of life for tango.
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I think that for every artist, it's very important to have an output and to feel very strongly about the music you're producing.
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As a professional cellist, I go to mostly classical concerts because that's the music I play, but I am also always trying to find out who the voices of our time are. I attend a spectrum of concerts that are close to classical - anything from Wynton Marsalis to Renee Fleming.
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I grew up with Mark Twain, and we had the complete Hemingway at home, of course in German translation.
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Art is what defines us, what makes us human.