Well, American composers are the best composers. At this time in the world, we are where the energy is. We are the most diverse, the most iconoclastic, the most maverick, and the most skillful.

A maverick feels like he has no choice however difficult his choice of expression. In my case, it was going backwards into tonality. It seemed so wrong. The idea that progress is going into the past in a new way is very strange, even though there are precedents.

I began like all composers, writing for small groups. Chamber groups.

Well, American composers are the best composers. At this time in the world, we are where the energy is. We are the most diverse, the most iconoclastic, the most maverick, and the most skillful.

When I first wrote for orchestra, I didn’t realize, when you have 20 people playing a violin line, that is very different than one person playing that line.

I’ve always been a composer dependent on texts.

Composers love to write for symphony orchestras because the symphony is the Rolls Royce of musical instruments.