John Adams Photo by Christine Alicino Courtesy Nonesuch Records

Just three days after completing the score for El Niño, a 110-minute "Christmas oratorio" for soloists, chorus, and orchestra, John Adams invites NewMusicBox editor Frank J. Oteri to his home in Berkeley CA to talk about his newest work and how it fits in with his compositional aesthetics, his views on religion, and his role as one of America's most popular composers.

November 11, 2000

Transcribed by Lisa Kang and Michael Moon

1. Success as a Composer and Cultural Relevancy
2. Our Current Cultural Landscape
3. Youthful and Mature Composition
4. Differences in Europe and America
5. Success as an American Composer
6. Practical Musicianship
7. Setting Texts
8. Amplification
9. Religion
10. A Totalist Oratorio?
11. Beyond Experimentation
12. Technology, Chamber Music and the Symphony