James Conion leads the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Chorus at Carnegie Hall in New York, NY on May 09, 2014. Melanie Burford/Prime/Melanie Burford/Prime for NPR hide caption

Composer John Luther Adams accepts enthusiastic applause from the Carnegie Hall audience after the New York premiere of his 2014 Pulitzer Prize-winning piece, Become Ocean, performed by the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. Melanie Burford/for NPR Music hide caption

Estonian composer Arvo Pärt's music is celebrated at the Metropolitan Museum of Art with a performance of his choral work Kanon Pokajanen at the Temple of Dendur. Kristian Juul Pedersen/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

Leonard Slatkin leads the Detroit Symphony Orchestra at the Spring for Music festival at Carnegie Hall. Torsten Kjellstrand/for NPR hide caption

Conductor Christoph Eschenbach and the National Symphony Orchestra gave the final performance in this year's Spring for Music Festival at Carnegie Hall on May 11, 2013. The program was of all 20th-century Russian music: Shchedrin's Slava, Slava; Schnittke's Viola Concerto; and Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony. Torsten Kjellstrand for NPR hide caption

The Dresden Staatskapelle's principal conductor, Christian Thielemann, asserts that Anton Bruckner's music, in its long-winding search for beauty, is the perfect antidote for modern life. He and the orchestra brought Bruckner's Symphony No. 8 to Carnegie Hall on April 19, 2013. Melanie Burford for NPR hide caption

Pianist Jonathan Biss and members of the Elias String Quartet brought their Schumann: Under the Influence program to Carnegie Hall. Melanie Burford/for NPR hide caption