What do you enjoy about the trumpet?

It has a charming and powerful sound. It's a sound that can grab anyone's attention and it can convey the strongest emotions.

Was there a particular moment that you knew this was what you wanted to do?

I was around sixteen years old. It felt like my calling. I enjoyed playing it and I was good at it. Then I thought if I want to do something with it, I have to give it 100%.

Is it difficult to find a routine? It’s very much like being a professional athlete.

You get used to it. You find discipline. It's part of your life, but it's not quite like athletes. Professional sports are about competition. Music is competition, but only up to a certain point. Also, it's not a competition in which we are running on concrete and fixed parameters. Like in football for example: the team who scores the most goals wins. These are the parameters of the game. What are the aspects that make a music career more or less successful? Of course, there is technical ability, you must be able to play in a symphonic orchestra for example. But musicality is personal. So, there is no competition on that. You must do your own thing and be a little bit lucky as well.

Is there anything you had to sacrifices or give up for your career in music?

Oh, many things. First, you have to abandon the notion of deciding where you will live your life. This is because you have to pursue whatever work opportunities are available and we all know that in the arts these opportunities are limited. If you want to build a career, you have to go where the work is. At one point I was living in Israel, then in Mexico. Now I'm in the Netherlands. I otherwise never would have expected to be living here. So when they ask me: why did you choose to live here? Well, there was an opening in the Rotterdam Philharmonic, and I went for it. The biggest sacrifice you have to make if you want to be a professional in music is that you must put your craft before everything else in your life. At least for a certain period of time. And this involves being far away from your family, your childhood friends, where you used to live and your culture.