In a revealing conversation, the conductor shares his ideas on life and music making.

You grew up in Berlin in the 1930s. Was that a difficult time to get a musical education?

I was just nine when the war started. Up to then it was a good time, but after this it was not such a good time. Actually I started very early and studied a little piano and so on – even composition a little bit when I was a kid. But during the war, there were other priorities and problems. My family was in big trouble because of being against the system in those days. My father and quite a few of my family were in prison or in concentration camps. So there was for me no time for music. I started again when I was about 15, after the war.

I was speaking to a friend earlier today and when I said that I was interviewing you, she said “Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s nephew, wow!”

He was brother of my mother and he was my godfather. The Nazi’s did not allow him to preach for a long time, so we spent quite a bit of time together. I think he...