The festival begins tomorrow night with the San Francisco-based Paul Dresher Ensemble. The new-music group plays a program of works by Dresher, including "Racer," a section of Elapsed Time, his salute to drag racing.

On Saturday afternoon, November 13, composer and clarinetist Evan Ziporyn leads Gamelan Gala Tika, his Balinese Gamelan ensemble, in his Tire Fire and Amok! as well two traditional gamelan pieces. That evening, jazz saxophonist Joshua Redman, a onetime bebop prodigy who has recently adopted a funkier sound, performs with his acoustic trio.

Adams himself appears on the afternoon of November 14, interviewing the actress and playwright Anna Deavere Smith as part of a season-long series of conversations with fellow artists. Finally, Kayhan Kalhor, a virtuoso of the four-string kemancheh plays the folk and classical music of Iran on Sunday evening, November 14.