Do you still identify yourself as an American composer? Peter Garland

Your question about whether I still consider myself an American composer made me shake my head and clear my throat… I suggest you look at a map. The country I live in is still America, and may be (these days) more authentically “American” than the one you live in.

I don’t view “America” in any kind of nationalist terms. Rather, America is a plurality: of many peoples, cultures, histories. Since the U.S. as a nation-state has more often than not been pretty evil (never more so than today!), perhaps the most “American” thing to do is: resist. That is a tradition I can identify with….