Half a century ago, and before, individuals of vision - conductors, composers, entrepreneurs, even critics - heroically shaped the course of America's musical high culture. In more recent times, the fate of classical music in the US has been governed by the market place...Today's iconic American composers - John Adams, Philip Glass, Steve Reich - cannot be called "classical musicians". They enjoy a robust and diverse following. They embody a "postclassical music" which, if we are lucky, will absorb and redirect a musical high culture that has mainly run its course. Joseph Horowitz, author of Classical Music in America: a history of its rise and fall