I do believe young people should be obligated to try different types of music - that is what education is. But once you're in a situation as an adult….

The American new music scene is remarkably vibrant..

Many critics have become de facto teachers. That is a lot of responsibility, and I think it should be wielded with care. Most people appreciate since….

My own goals center around writing the best music that I can, and only I can determine whether or not I've succeeded in accomplishing that..

My interactions with musicians have been simply that: interactions with musicians. Issues of gender, or anything else beyond the music-making, have i….

There are times I'm completely uncomfortable with my works being performed publicly, and I haven't attended certain concerts because the prospect is ….

If people want insights, if they want to swim in the currents of their own time and share the experiences of their time, then it makes sense to engag….

If somebody responds positively to what I'm doing - if there is a connection - that can be very meaningful. If someone reacts with displeasure, confu….

While I believe there is certainly a phenomenon of timelessness in art, the people writing today can comment on today in an exclusive manner..

I don't think performance out of duty yields very much. Coercion is never the way to go..

Part of what makes music so interesting is the lack of consensus on just about any given topic..

The work of Liszt I most admire is the music he wrote toward the end of his life. This is often music of tremendous inventiveness. The music seems to….

Mazur was a remarkable artist. During our time in Rome we became friends. I would often perform my works for him at the piano..

I think the tendency to paint composers or styles of music with too broad a brush - for example, identifying composers as writers of "simple" or "com….

The visual and literary arts are of perennial interest to me, and these art forms have become more and more a part of my life; they have become compa….

A healthy dialogue is always good..

The musical culture in the United States has no doubt suffered severe setbacks, especially in funding, since the early 2000's. However, I've been ama….

Just as all pop music is not simplistic, not all contemporary concert music is complex. Often what a person connects with goes much deeper than gener….

As I see it, the major requirements for a strong and able rendering are an understanding of a work's structure, voicing, and trajectory; an ability t….

A lot of my approach to the instrument, especially as I've gotten older, is to treat the piano in ways that are not very pianistic - to consider the ….

The best critics leave the reader curious to pursue something further, but still to let the reader have his or her own honest, unique opinion..