Michael Tilson Thomas leads the San Francisco Symphony in a month-long American Mavericks festival in March 2012 in San Francisco, Chicago, Ann Arbor and New York. The festival celebrates the visionary pioneers who created, and are still creating, a new American sound.

In this video, composer John Adams talks about his latest work, Absolute Jest, a new commission for the San Francisco Symphony's Centennial Season.

For more information on the American Mavericks festival, visit www.americanmavericks.org.