There are certain moments in performance when I'm hand-in-glove with a conductor and feel I can take risks and try something completely different fro… - Sarah Chang

I've worked with a lot of living composers recently. It drives me nuts, though, that they like to change things at the last minute. For example, two years ago I played a piece that had been completed only the day before, in front of thousands of people in a huge stadium in Taejon, South Korea.

I remember when I was eight, my friends thought it was a little bit unusual that I was going off to Europe or to Asia, and playing concerts. And they would go to Tower (Records) and see my CD out. So that was a little different! But, I guess they've gotten used to it now, and really could not care less," she asserted. "It's nice because most of my friends are not musicians, and it keeps me grounded.

Everything in my life is planned. It adds stability, but it makes me yearn for something that's not planned, that's spontaneous.