Markand Thakar transcends his sense of self when he conducts a piece of music.

“The process of making music, for me personally, actually transcends the emotion [of the music],” Thakar said. “It’s not about joy — there’s something that goes even further. I absorb the sounds, if they come to me in the right way and I’m open to them. … They wash over me. I take them in [and] I lose myself in the sounds — I lose that sense of distinction between me and the sounds. In that conscious act, I become the sounds.”