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The best part about living in New York is that you are able to play with different people in different styles in the same week. It's really part of who I am as a musical person. I try to incorporate everything that I encounter.

A lot of my training is in classical theatre; I've done a lot of classical plays in New York and also at the Guthrie and here and there across the country.

I actually started playing in little cafes around New York, and I have a lot of good friends of mine who are musicians who are struggling in New York.

You'll find little schools of musicians experimenting with different ways of making music in Brooklyn, all through Manhattan, in Queens, in Jersey, you know? The city is still bubbling with creativity.

You're surrounded by electronic music in New York. I mean New York is one of the few places in North America where electronic music is the prevalent form.

There are so many musicians in New York, and there is this energy and fire in this city that inspires you and makes you want to learn and to get out there. People are constantly evolving and constantly creating here, and you get pushed along just by being in that energy.

Music has always been transnational; people pick up whatever interests them, and certainly a lot of classical music has absorbed influences from all over the world.

On the grounds of prestigious musical organizations that come and go, New York has the edge.

There are certainly some artists in New York that I would love to work with. One is Sarah Michelson.

What does New York sound like? For me, the Charlie Parker at the Royal Roost recordings on the Savoy label are the total embodiment of the New York music experience.