Daily Schedule

A Multi-Dimensional Celebration of America's Ground-Breaking, Maverick Composers (March 8-30, 2012)

In this 1995 interview from the WNYC archives, John Adams talks with host John Schaefer about his new opera I Was looking at the Ceiling and then I Saw the Sky, finished just a week before the interview took place. Adams explores what sets this opera apart from his earlier efforts and how it resembles the form of the American musical. Cast members from the production perform live in-studio. 

Michael Tilson Thomas celebrates his 17th season as music director of the San Francisco Symphony during the orchestra’s 2011-12 Centennial Season. He and the orchestra have been praised by critics for innovative programming and for bringing the works of American composers to the fore.

Considered by critics to be one of the most important and exciting performers on the contemporary scene today, the violinist Mary Rowell cannot be classified. Known for her work with the Grammy Award-winning Tango Project, the indie band The Silos and pop icon Joe Jackson, she has carved an indelible place in the contemporary classical music world with the post-classical quartet ETHEL of which she is co-founder.

A pioneer and a visionary in the music world, cellist Fred Sherry has introduced audiences on five continents and all fifty United States to the music of our time through his close association with today’s composers.

Phil Kline is a composer who makes music in many genres and contexts, from experimental electronics and sound installations to songs, choral, theater, chamber and orchestral music.

Considered by critics to be one of the most important and exciting performers on the contemporary scene today, the violinist Mary Rowell cannot be classified. Known for her work with the Grammy Award-winning Tango Project, the indie band The Silos and pop icon Joe Jackson, she has carved an indelible place in the contemporary classical music world with the post-classical quartet ETHEL of which she is co-founder.