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I love music. I still play cello a few times a week.

It started when I was eight years old. I first heard the cello on the radio, and I loved the sound. It was such a magical, beautiful sound. I dedicated my entire childhood to cello, practising like crazy.

I played cello in my high school orchestra.

I studied the cello for a long time, from when I was little up through college.

It is my aim, my destination in life to make the cello as beloved an instrument as the violin and piano.

I decided that I wanted to explore all kinds of music with my cello, not just the Western classical tradition. I just wanted to try and expand my vocabulary and bring that different kind of music to my audience.

A cello can sound like so many instruments, but it's only one, you know, like a guitar; it has percussive qualities. It can sing like the violin, you know, like a voice.

When I was four, we had to choose a musical instrument to play at school, and I chose the cello. I played until I was 18, and although I found it nerve-racking to play solo, I loved playing in an orchestra. When I left school I didn't carry on with it, which I regret.

My mom says that my dad coerced me into choosing the cello. He says that's not entirely true. I don't remember; I was three.

It is the closest instrument to the human voice, and the things you can do on the cello... there are endless possibilities.