A few days ago a heated debate broke out between some of the fellows about the nature of art: two fellows were vociferously arguing that the only art that really matters is that which is informed by mass culture: high art and low art are useless misnomers, and the avant-garde is irrelevant if not non-existent. On the other side of the sticky bar table, some of the other fellows pointed out that art is always being created in the shadows of successful art.

When I realized that the usual way that I compose wasn’t working, I found a huge scroll of paper and tried something completely different.

Strippers, puppets, and Barbie dolls—or, rather, a risk-embracing new music concert in Rome.

At what point in your career can you afford to turn down a non-paying request for music?

I’m exploring an interesting psychosomatic illness—rapid heartbeat, dizziness, confusion, and even hallucinations in the face of too much beautiful art.

I’ve been in Paris and Prague, on “vacation” from the AAR, visiting friends and exploring cities that I don’t know very well, hoping that may spark a measure or two of music that needs to get written soon.

Forget the abstractness of music—aren’t I trying to express ideas and emotions that we all have?

Exploring Naples with visual artists allowed me to see things I would have easily missed on my own.

Can a private institution control its artistic agenda in a way that a public one cannot?

The state of Italian new music is a bit troubling, from what I’ve seen and heard thus far.