All Things Considered’s Lorna Benson interviews Chinese American composer and conductor Tan Dun. He is in the Twin Cities to conduct The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in two performances of the Crouching Tiger Concerto.

Tan Dun states he got his start as a conductor and composer directing the farmers in his rural Chinese village in a make-shift orchestra that played ritual music and folk songs. He says he was 19-years-old when he first heard western music. His music gained a worldwide audience last March, when he accepted an Oscar for composing the film score to the hit film, "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon."