John Adams at Juilliard

I'd like to end the week by sharing this link from the composer John Adams' website. It contains the text of a terrific commencement speech which he gave last month at the Juilliard School of Music in New York.

Some people in the comments thread underneath the speech complain that the composer says nothing new with his words about why art and artists matter.

But to the detractors, all I can say is that the composer's eloquence on the subject is as startling as it is passionate. If more people explained things the way Adams does, maybe those that are in the business of slashing arts funding would stop.