In a wide-ranging interview with Noah Bendix-Balgley, from which we present an exclusive extract below, composer John Adams speaks about politics and music, and his oratorio The Gospel According to the Other Mary. He also voices his concerns about the current political climate in the US, saying: 'I left my home town, San Francisco, to come here to Berlin on the very day that our new President was inaugurated and I know that this is going to happen in the next coming years – we're going to have a major confrontation with authorities'.

The complete interview is available to view for free at the Berlin Philharmonic's Digital Concert Hall website, and Digital Concert Hall subscribers can watch a complete performance of The Gospel According to the Other Mary conducted by Simon Rattle too.