"The guy who shows up to show me how to play the cello is nothing like what I expected. I thought it would be a stiff guy. But my guy is like a Ninja cellist. He's a really fit, goodlooking Asian dude, and he comes to my place with his cello strapped to his back. The first time he came, there were some ladies at my place when he started to play, they just went all dreamy over him. They were fascinated and when I saw how impressed they were, I thought: 'Oh, my God, I got to learn to play the cello!'"

"Tan Dun's Crouching Tiger Concerto...this was 26 minutes of really enchanting music played really well. The amplification was cranked up high yet without distortion, and the [Hollywood] Bowl was magically bathed in Hong's bold, gorgeous tone.