When John Adams's City Noir received its world premiere early this month in the gala Opening Night concert of the Los Angeles Philharmonic under its new music director Gustavo Dudamel, it was met with rave reviews and an adulatory audience response. The New York Times described the music as "riveting." The performance, which was paired with Mahler's First Symphony and which the Times saw as "an exceptional and exciting concert by any standard," was captured on tape by PBS's Great Performances and will be broadcast on the show tonight on PBS stations around the country.

For all the accolades that have been heaped on the Philharmonic's young new leader, "the bottom line is that Dudamel is the genuine article," says Adams in a post on his website's new blog, "and he doesn’t seem to be fazed in the least by all the fawning media attention. He’s a generous and humble person, and it was a moving sight to see his dressing room full of his old friends, his parents and mentors from Venezuela, all hanging out babbling in Castellano and having the time of their life."

In the blog post, the composer also reveals a few of the ins and outs of bringing classical music to a national television audience. To read more, visit earbox.com. You'll also find more on City Noir with an audio excerpt from the piece on the site.

For more on tonight's Great Performances broadcast, with a preview of the show, visit pbs.org.

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Also on PBS, John Adams was featured on the most recent episode of Sunday Arts, a program of New York public television station Channel Thirteen. On the show, host Paula Zahn talks to the composer, whom she likens to Copland and Bernstein for his standing in American musical culture, about his work and his place in the pantheon. You can watch the segment online at thirteen.org.