John Powers

Putting this theme on the Beethoven album was something that is an ode to Beethoven and the tradition of how he transformed the symphonic tradition and brought in all of the different sounds that he brought in and the rhythmic concepts that we talked about and the melodic ubiquity of all these themes that we know and love.

And just thinking about this, my first symphony, American Symphony, being in that tradition and in a tradition of the greats who are maybe unsung, who also wrote in connection to the American experience, William Grant Still, James Reese Europe, Florence Price, all the composers who are speaking to this over time. It's just something that is very important to me.

And just thinking about this, my first symphony, American Symphony, being in that tradition and in a tradition of the greats who are maybe unsung, who also wrote in connection to the American experience, William Grant Still, James Reese Europe, Florence Price, all the composers who are speaking to this over time. It's just something that is very important to me.

And just thinking about this, my first symphony, American Symphony, being in that tradition and in a tradition of the greats who are maybe unsung, who also wrote in connection to the American experience, William Grant Still, James Reese Europe, Florence Price, all the composers who are speaking to this over time. It's just something that is very important to me.

Yes, Terry, it was a sign because... we were doing something that needed to be done. Every time you do something that you're supposed to be doing, you're going to face some form of attack, some form of pushback. And this is the first time in the history of the hall, of Carnegie Hall, that that's happened. You know, things like that will happen.

Yes, Terry, it was a sign because... we were doing something that needed to be done. Every time you do something that you're supposed to be doing, you're going to face some form of attack, some form of pushback. And this is the first time in the history of the hall, of Carnegie Hall, that that's happened. You know, things like that will happen.

Yes, Terry, it was a sign because... we were doing something that needed to be done. Every time you do something that you're supposed to be doing, you're going to face some form of attack, some form of pushback. And this is the first time in the history of the hall, of Carnegie Hall, that that's happened. You know, things like that will happen.

And that's how you know you're doing the thing that you need to be doing.

And that's how you know you're doing the thing that you need to be doing.

And that's how you know you're doing the thing that you need to be doing.

Oh, my goodness. It's funny because I looked up in the balcony in the audience and I looked down at the folks that were right near the stage and I could look in people's eyes and I could see nobody really knew me. they could sense maybe something was happening, but the majority of folks didn't know that the power went out because it was only on stage.

Oh, my goodness. It's funny because I looked up in the balcony in the audience and I looked down at the folks that were right near the stage and I could look in people's eyes and I could see nobody really knew me. they could sense maybe something was happening, but the majority of folks didn't know that the power went out because it was only on stage.

Oh, my goodness. It's funny because I looked up in the balcony in the audience and I looked down at the folks that were right near the stage and I could look in people's eyes and I could see nobody really knew me. they could sense maybe something was happening, but the majority of folks didn't know that the power went out because it was only on stage.

So this is a moment where we're cueing the orchestra through the analog synths and the modular synthesizers, but they can't cue the orchestra because the power's out. So no one on stage, you have all these, you know, over 100 musicians sitting there looking to me for direction. No one knows what to do. So what I thought at that moment was, okay, I'll play.

So this is a moment where we're cueing the orchestra through the analog synths and the modular synthesizers, but they can't cue the orchestra because the power's out. So no one on stage, you have all these, you know, over 100 musicians sitting there looking to me for direction. No one knows what to do. So what I thought at that moment was, okay, I'll play.

So this is a moment where we're cueing the orchestra through the analog synths and the modular synthesizers, but they can't cue the orchestra because the power's out. So no one on stage, you have all these, you know, over 100 musicians sitting there looking to me for direction. No one knows what to do. So what I thought at that moment was, okay, I'll play.

And I improvised, you know, maybe it was a true spontaneous composition that bridged to the movement that we were just about to start. It bridged to it without knowing how long I'd need to create this interlude, this bridge. I did it just the piano alone, which was completely acoustic. and then the orchestra comes in.

And I improvised, you know, maybe it was a true spontaneous composition that bridged to the movement that we were just about to start. It bridged to it without knowing how long I'd need to create this interlude, this bridge. I did it just the piano alone, which was completely acoustic. and then the orchestra comes in.

And I improvised, you know, maybe it was a true spontaneous composition that bridged to the movement that we were just about to start. It bridged to it without knowing how long I'd need to create this interlude, this bridge. I did it just the piano alone, which was completely acoustic. and then the orchestra comes in.

No one knows that we had this complete disastrous mishap, but I was already in this mindset where, Nothing is going to stop me.