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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.

But still as compared to many, many orchestras in the world, I think you find a lot more new music and living composers on our programs than many other places.

Still, American composers working in France have had a pretty hard time.

There are wonderful composers and librettists out there. It's the lack of creative producers that is troubling.

I firmly believe that we have more latent musical talent in America than there is in any other country. But to dig it out there must be good music throughout the land, a lot of it. Everyone must hear it, and such a process takes time.

I am certain that most composers today would consider today's music to be rich, not to say confusing, in its enormous diversity of styles, technical procedures, and systems of esthetics.

Most of the important composers in our country are clustered in the Northeast.

It's nice to have a great female composer in the program and add her color.

American musicians are very giving - they have the highest standard in the world - but they are also very demanding in their conditions.

I am not one of the great composers. All the great have produced enormously. There is everything in their work - the best and the worst, but there is always quantity. But I have written relatively little.