Spend an hour with the witty and erudite American conductor Mark Shapiro as he takes you on a whirlwind tour of recent thinking about the musical mind. How do we perceive, process, and respond to music? Why might these capacities have evolved? Discover how such explorations can enrich our listening and heighten our musical pleasure.

Mark Shapiro is an acclaimed conductor of orchestras, opera, and choruses, with an extraordinarily broad and diverse repertoire. He has built a reputation for exactness in musicianship, fluent and engaging rehearsals, and emotionally and spiritually powerful performances, and he is unique among North American conductors for having won six ASCAP Awards leading three different ensembles.

The New York Times has admired his “spirit of adventure” and praised his work as "insightful” while saluting the “uncommon polish” of his music-making. Opera News appreciated his “superb pacing and great confidence.”