Jan Swafford is known as both a composer and biographer. His compositions have been performed by orchestras such as the St. Louis Symphony, the Indianapolis Symphony, and the Dutch Radio Orchestra. His biographies of Ives, Brahms, Beethoven, and Mozart have received rave reviews, and so it was a total joy to have this conversation with Jan about all things musical (and a few things non-musical).

In Part 1 of our conversation, Jan talks about his beginnings in music, his ideas about writing, and how he has conveyed those ideas to students over the years. Then we begin our conversation about his four main biographies: Ives, Brahms, Beethoven, and Mozart.