For Maverick Mixtapes, we asked musicians from different musical backgrounds to curate an hour of music that they deemed best fit the ideal of an "American Maverick." Today's featured musician is composer and multi-instrumentalist Richard Reed Parry, of Arcade Fire and Bell Orchestre.

In this 2002 episode of WNYC's Soundcheck, host John Schaefer talks to maverick American icon Frederic Rzewski as well as fellow pianist-composers Michael Hersch and Russian-born Lera Auerbach about performing their own pieces, and working outside the musical mainstream.

In this 1963 interview from the WNYC archives, composer John Cage clarifies the fundamental tenets of his music-making and demonstrates his legendary contemplative and unperturbed demeanor in the face of challenging and critical question by acclaimed music critic and host Jonathan Cott.

For Maverick Mixtapes, we asked musicians from different musical backgrounds to curate an hour of music that they deemed best fit the ideal of an "American Maverick." Today's featured musician is composer and electronic musician Dan Deacon.

Pianist Lisa Moore hosts this week's installments of Hammered!, presenting music by composers like Scott Joplin, George Gershwin, Charles Ives, Conlon Nancarrow, Philip Glass, John Adams and many others.

For Maverick Mixtapes, we asked musicians from different musical backgrounds to curate an hour of music that they deemed best fit the ideal of an "American Maverick." Today's featured musician is composer and electronic musician Ryan Lott, a.k.a. Son Lux.

In this 1985 interview, Leonard Bernstein describes the influences his early education had upon the formation of the Young People's Concerts and feeling "cursed with this need to teach."

In this 1950 appearance at Tanglewood, Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Irving Fine and Lukas Foss gathered together around a piano discuss what gives American music its special identity.

For Maverick Mixtapes, we asked musicians from different musical backgrounds to curate an hour of music that they deemed best fit the ideal of an "American Maverick." Today's featured musician is trumpeter and composer Dave Douglas.

In this 2008 interview, composer, vocalist and filmmaker Meredith Monk joins host David Garland to explore the musical traditions of disparate world religions and discuss the personal, non-denominational expressions of the search for the sacred through sound.

For Maverick Mixtapes, we asked musicians from different musical backgrounds to curate an hour of music that they deemed best fit the ideal of an "American Maverick." Today's featured musician is saxophonist and composer Sam Hillmer, of the Brooklyn-based avant jazz groups Zs, Hubble and Diamond Terrifier.

For Maverick Mixtapes, we asked musicians from different musical backgrounds to curate an hour of music that they deemed best fit the ideal of an "American Maverick." Today's featured musician is Australian songwriter and composer Padma Newsome, a founding member of Clogs and a frequent collaborator with Brooklyn-based rock group The National.

In this 1952 Music for the Connoisseur, host David Randolph intersperses archival audio of Henry Cowell's speeches on musical techniques, plays pieces based on the composer's theories, and ties the program together with his own insights into the composer's pioneering ideas.

In this 1995 interview from the WNYC archives, John Adams talks with host John Schaefer about his new opera I Was looking at the Ceiling and then I Saw the Sky, finished just a week before the interview took place. Adams explores what sets this opera apart from his earlier efforts and how it resembles the form of the American musical. Cast members from the production perform live in-studio. 

For Maverick Mixtapes, we asked musicians from different musical backgrounds to curate an hour of music that they deemed best fit the ideal of an "American Maverick." Today's featured musician is Alan Pierson, conductor and musical director of both the new-music ensemble Alarm Will Sound and the Brooklyn Philharmonic.

Brought together for a 1989 interview, composers Conlon Nancarrow and Trimpin discuss the ideas behind their music.

This month on Hammered! Q2 Music invites three pianists to curate episodes focused on the past century's most revolutionary musicians. Listen in 11 am and pm all this week for episodes hosted by the fearless Kathleen Supové.

For Maverick Mixtapes, we asked musicians from different musical backgrounds to curate an hour of music that they deemed best fit the ideal of an "American Maverick." Today's featured group is composer, guitarist, and former Battles member Tyondai Braxton.