Hi Ray, It is so generous of you to provide such great opportunity to ask a world class violinist a question that puzzled me since I started learning to play.

Did you have to cover LOTS of etudes when you were a child learner, like Wohlfahrt, Kayser, Mazas, Dont and Kreutzer?

Thank you and hope to see you in England sometime in the future!

Eagles Shirley!!!!! I love you, your calls to Angelo make my Monday (and many other) morning commutes much more enjoyable. How was that 49ers fan nephew during the last game?

Give me one Shirl!

You won’t get scolded from me! I cheer for Pittsburgh when they are not playing the Eagles. We are like family from the same state. I think we should support each other. I have about 15 Eagles jerseys, and about 5 more if you count the Sixers and Phillies.
I wear Hurts jersey #2 when he was the backup to Carson. I know he is #1 but his first jersey as an Eagle is so special to me that I am not ready wear his #1 new jersey.

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I read that India was installing panels over rivers to prevent water loss through evaporation and obviously for generating electricity. Also, kudos on using "the built environment" in a sentence.

Will nuclear energy help supply our energy needs?

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My favorite color is midnight blue, however it is a "cooler + darker" color and there's not that many moments in music where you need that particular sound.

Hi Ray, I'm a big fan of yours! Did you ever come across negativity, toxicity and favouritism in the industry? Any time through your studies and career? I wonder if you have any tips for musicians who have struggled with this sort of thing? Kindest wishes

Hi Ray! Have you ever tried other instruments? If yes, what, when and how was it?

I've had a varied relationship with practice. When I was younger, I practiced a lot more because I had yet to develop my own practice frameworks and methods. These days I've gotten to know myself better and so when faced with that question I often reply with "I practice as much as necessary".

I will say, the most I practiced in a day was 10 hours. Definitely not advisable over a long period of time and also dependant on your instrument. This was a special few weeks when I was competing at the Queen Elisabeth competition. I was also 20 years old - pretty sure if I attempted this now my neck would break.

Hello ray! I was wondering what your usual practice routine is? Like what you start with and do during practice and what your end goal is, whether it’s to get further in a concerto or to improve?

We are about to board our plane to Pittsburgh to see you tomorrow night. Bringing my daughter for her 16th birthday. Any chance you can sign her program? We are super excited!

Ray, your performances in Arcane were absolutely splendid. I'm not ashamed to say that your song with Sting, What Could Have Been, made me tear up.

When you compose and perform a piece, is there some method you use to ensure you invoke a particular emotional response from the audience?

Hey Ray, I got a weird one. What’s your favorite color and what piece would you associate with that color?

Absolutely monstrous issues. They will never be the answer to climate change, it's just a supplement. We need nuclear or the world dies tbh.

You're probably getting thousands of videos for the Play with Ray competition right now. What will the selection process look like, and what are you looking for in the videos/applications?

I believe when people have feelings of frustration or inadequacy from lack of progress, it speaks to their personal metric for success. If you shift your mindset of what determines success for you (for eg. If your goal is to be able to play with others or if you're measuring how well you play against others) then you'll be in a much happier and healthier mindset that allows you to enjoy music.

Definitely -- more rooftop solar could limit the need for large solar farms, although almost certainly not eliminate it. See, for instance: https://www.latimes.com/environment/newsletter/2021-01-07/how-rooftop-solar-could-save-americans-473-billion-dollars-boiling-point

Not an EV, unfortunately. But I'm hopeful to replace my current sedan with something electric when the time comes!

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Hey there, I really appreciate your weighing in. This is really a difficult problem. I launching this reporting project, Repowering the West, to try to help people think through how we can best solve climate change while also avoiding too much damage from renewable energy development. I hope you'll check it out and let me know what you think: https://www.latimes.com/projects/repowering-the-west/

Surely it would at least reduce the need for huge farms limiting the ecological or farm land impact.

Hey there, thank you for the question! I'm not super familiar with agrivoltaics from my own reporting, unfortunately (at least not yet), but have read a lot about them. Would point you to this great Associated Press piece: https://apnews.com/article/climate-science-business-lifestyle-environment-and-nature-8f388056808946fbc1aa9a4d6bbc812e.

Hope that's helpful!

What is your favorite concert hall to perform in?

What are you thinking about while performing? Are you imagining a story? Or is mind blank and you're letting muscle memory do everything?