At Lincoln Center: Forging an American Musical Identity

New York City, January 29, 2026 --- On January 29 I will be joining a panel of scholars at the Forging an American Identity conference this January in New York City. The conference opens Wednesday, January 28, at Geffen Hall, Sidewalk Studio, Lincoln Center, and my participation will take place the following day, Thursday, January 29, at the Elebash Recital Hall at the Graduate Center, City University of New York.

New York City | Upper West Side

The panel will bring together some of the most distinguished voices in the field — Katherine Preston, Douglas Shadle, John Graziano, Leon Botstein, and Barbara Haws — for a conversation exploring how composers, performers, and institutions have contributed to shaping the idea of an “American sound.”

At Lincoln Center: Forging an American Musical Identity

My participation comes as an immediate extension of my current work on the feature documentary Arcadia: The Search for an American Musical Identity, a film that began as an inquiry into the life and music of George Frederick Bristow and has since evolved into a broader reflection on how the United States came to define itself musically. The film, written and directed by me and produced by Heritage Film Project, is being developed with support from The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation and the Documentary Film Fund.

As I continue to work on Arcadia, joining this panel feels both humbling and invigorating — a chance to share ideas and learn from colleagues who have spent years examining the same questions that now animate this film:

How does a nation find its sound? And what does it mean for that sound to speak of liberty, diversity, and imagination?

I look forward to the exchange and to sharing further developments as Arcadia moves toward completion.