Singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega hosts this Peabody Award-winning, 13-part series exploring the revolution behind classical concert music in the 20th century. Inspired by the adventurous programming of the San Francisco Symphony and its concert festival of the same name, the series features the tradition-breaking composers who shaped the development of American music -- from Charles Ives and Laurie Anderson, to Aaron Copland and John Adams. The stories in the series are frequently told by the creators themselves to show the personal side of the often-overlooked field of experimental music. Special interviews and commentary from San Francisco Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas highlight this celebration of musical inspiration and creativity.

Fridays at 10 p.m.

Explore More:

American Mavericks Official site

This site is full of additional content to listen to, read and play with, like the Listening Room, which offers two Web-streams of continuous music, and the virtual Rhythmicon keyboard to bring out your inner composer.

Suzanne Vega:

• WHYY Interview

• Biography

• Official site

Michael Tilson Thomas:

• San Francisco Symphony

Michael Tilson Thomas

Music Director, San Francisco Symphony

Michael Tilson Thomas is the Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony, the Founder and Artistic Director of the New World Symphony and Principal Guest Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. Born in Los Angeles, he is the third generation of his family to follow an artistic career.

Mr. Tilson Thomas began his formal studies at the University of Southern California, where he studied piano, conducting and composition, and at age 19 was named Music Director of the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra. He worked with Stravinsky, Boulez, Stockhausen and Copland on premieres of their compositions at Los Angeles' Monday Evening Concerts.

In 1969, after winning the Koussevitzky Prize at Tanglewood, he was appointed Assistant Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. That same year he made his New York debut with the Boston Symphony and gained international recognition after replacing Music Director William Steinberg in mid-concert. He was later appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, where he remained until 1974. He was Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic from 1971 to 1979, a Principal Guest Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 1981 to 1985 and the Principal Conductor of the Great Woods Music Festival from 1985 to 1988. His guest conducting includes appearances with the major orchestras of Europe and the United States.

His recorded repertoire includes works by Bach, Beethoven, Mahler, Prokofiev and Stravinsky, as well as his pioneering work with the music of Charles Ives, Carl Ruggles, Steve Reich, John Cage, Ingolf Dahl, Morton Feldman and George Gershwin. In 1995 Mr. Tilson Thomas became an exclusive BMG Classics/RCA Red Seal recording artist. His debut recording for that label with the San Francisco Symphony, Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet, won a Grammy for best orchestral recording of 1996, and their recording of Stravinsky Ballets won three Grammys in 1999, including awards for best classical album and best orchestral performance.

Current releases with the San Francisco Symphony include a disc of the Aaron Copland's early works and a disc of his most popular ballets; Gustav Mahler's Das klagende Lied; Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique; and a Gershwin collection. With the New World Symphony, he has released an album of works by Heitor Villa-Lobos and a collection of classical interpretations of jazz. Current releases with the London Symphony Orchestra are works composed by Igor Stravinsky, and the Mahler Symphony No. 7, which garnered Tilson Thomas the prestigious Toblacher Komponierhcuschen 2000.

Among Mr. Tilson Thomas' television productions are a series with the London Symphony Orchestra for the BBC; a three-hour international celebration of the music and life of George Gershwin; Leonard Bernstein's On The Town; and Concerto!, a five-part BMG audio/video series.

Mr. Tilson Thomas is also noted for his commitment to music education, guest lecturing at Carnegie Hall, and leading the television broadcasts of the New York Philharmonic Young People's Concerts from 1971 to 1977. In February 1988, he inaugurated the New World Symphony, an orchestral academy for the most gifted graduates of America's music conservatories.