The opening brass flourish of Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man conjures up a vision of the Stars and Stripes, of national strength and lofty ideals. A sound signature of American culture, it soars out from television commercials for the Armed Forces and the airlines. It awakened the space-shuttle astronauts and opened the Atlanta Olympics. At the same time, Copland himself has become a cultural icon -- a flesh-and-blood realization of the American Dream. Copland took modernist gestures of early twentieth-century composition and turned them into a language recognizable in homes across the country and around the world. That was his triumph. But it is only one of many achievements that define a complex and prolific figure. Largely known through a few works -- even more through a few sound-bites -- much of Copland's music awaits regular performanced and informed appreciation. The centenial of Copland's birth provides an exceptional opportunity to explore both the superhighways and side-streets of his compositional journey. Audience building, multimedia programming, community service, artistic autonomy - these are the challenges that Copland faced and that continue to confront concert presenters, performers, and composers. By venturing into Copland's world, we stand a good chance of understanding more about our own.