60 Minutes - 10/28/2018: Inside the Secret Archive, America's War Against ISIS, JAAP

Episode Date: October 29, 2018

The New York Philharmonic has a new maestro. Here's Lesley Stahl with an introduction. Holly Williams shares the story of a woman who is helping Raqqa rebuild after the air strikes on ISIS. Sex abuse within the A Buffalo bishop is coming under fire for failure to remove priests from service -- with knowledge of their abuse. A number of those within the church tell Bill Whitaker there stories on tonight's "60 Minutes." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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A well-marbled ribeye you ordered without even leaving the kiddie pool. Whatever groceries your summer calls for, Instacart has you covered. Download the Instacart app and enjoy $0 delivery fees on your first three orders. Service fees, exclusions, and terms apply. Instacart. Grocer groceries that over-deliver. Who copied hundreds of pages of incriminating documents from the Bishop of Buffalo's secret archives? This woman, the bishop's devout executive assistant, she says she couldn't live with the guilt of knowing about priests accused of serious sex crimes being protected. Tonight, she'll tell her story for the first time.

Why are you doing this? The reality of what I saw really left me with no other option because at the end of my life, I'm not going to answer to Bishop Malone. I'm going to answer to God. It's been four years since the United States launched a bombing campaign against ISIS in Syria. Last October, ISIS lost control of the city of Raqqa,

its headquarters, for more than three years. It was there we met Leila Mustafa, a 30-year-old woman in charge of resurrecting this skeleton of a city. So last year when ISIS was still in charge of Raqqa, women couldn't show their faces in this city. And now you, a woman, you're in charge of the city. How do you think ISIS would feel about that? Opening night at the New York Phil, Jaap van Zweden's official debut. Would you consider really good composers of popular music for the symphony orchestra? For special occasions, absolutely. I would love to work with Pharrell, Lady Gaga. Lady Gaga?

Why not? Isn't she fantastic? The Roman Catholic Church is facing its biggest crisis in the United States since the Boston sex abuse scandal 16 years ago. Thirteen states are now investigating whether abuse was concealed by church leaders, including bishops who head each diocese. We have learned one place under scrutiny by federal investigators is Buffalo, New York. In August, information about dozens of accused priests was leaked from the diocese's secret archive. What it revealed infuriated many of Buffalo's 600,000 Catholics. Tonight, you will hear from a priest who will share his direct knowledge about what he has called a cover-up.

But first, the anonymous whistleblower who uncovered proof that Bishop Richard Malone withheld the names of dozens of priests accused of abuse. Until now, Siobhan O'Connor had carefully kept her identity secret. I've had to rely on God even more than I ever have before. She is the whistleblower who leaked records from the secret archive of the Diocese of Buffalo. Siobhan O'Connor worked closely with Bishop Richard Malone as his executive assistant for three years. Last week, she spoke with the FBI. Some people would say that you betrayed Bishop Malone. I did betray him, and yet I can't apologize for that because there was a greater

good to consider. The hundreds of pages Siobhan O'Connor uncovered included personnel files and memos. They revealed that for years, Bishop Malone allowed priests accused of sexual assault, such as statutory rape and groping, to stay on the job. I love my church. I love our diocese. And I loved him. I genuinely did, as my bishop and as my boss. So why are you doing this? The reality of what I saw really left me with no other option because at the end of my life, I'm not going to answer to Bishop Malone. I'm going to answer to God. At first, she took pictures with her phone. Then she used the copy machine here at the bishop's offices.

The documents provided an extraordinary window into how the diocese handled abuse. And nobody caught on to what you were doing? No, they didn't. I was always working with paper, and I was always there, so it wasn't as though I had to ask for keys or take them from someone's desk. Her decision to act was influenced by the phone calls she fielded from dozens of people who said they had been abused. O'Connor says she tried to get the bishop to be more responsive to them. He would tell her it's not her concern. She said by last summer she was, in her words,

morally allergic to what she witnessed. Just before O'Connor quit her job in August, she anonymously leaked the church documents to a reporter at Buffalo television station WKBW. There was no other way you saw to handle this? Not with any expediency, no. I mean, I did hope and pray that a grand jury would eventually be convened and that there would be hopefully an independent investigation, but I felt that there could be other victims between now and then,

and I couldn't have that on my conscience if there was a way to prevent that. Her doubts began in March. Bishop Malone had agreed to release a list of 42 priests accused of sexually abusing minors. But O'Connor knew there should be more names, because she had seen the draft list that circulated between the bishop and diocesan lawyers. There was also something else, a dossier about priests she discovered in a supply closet. There was one particular binder which was of pending litigation that had been presented to Bishop Malone when he first was installed as our bishop.

And this was from the lawyers. And this was a large, over 300-page binder. And I found it when I was cleaning the closet where they kept the bishop's vacuum. And I remember finding this obviously very important and sensitive information and thinking, how did it ever end up here, first of all? And then I was shocked at the volume of it. The cases in the dossier Bishop Malone inherited when he arrived in 2012 stretched back decades. As they worked on the list, the bishop and his lawyers decided they would not reveal the names of accused priests still in ministry. It was a very carefully curated list, and I saw all the lawyers coming in and out, and

I was aware of the various strategies that were in place. What were they trying to do, if not help the victims? Well, to my mind, the overarching attitude seemed to be to protect the church's reputation and her assets. And the assets. Very much so. Siobhan O'Connor was most alarmed to see that Father Arthur Smith was missing from the list. Church records showed two young men in Buffalo had complained in 2013 that Smith had inappropriately touched them. Two years before that, Smith was sent to counseling

after repeated contact with an eighth-grade boy that included unwanted attention and Facebook messages. Despite what Bishop Malone knew, he endorsed Smith for a job as a cruise ship chaplain. The bishop wrote, I am unaware of anything in his background which would render him unsuitable to work with minor children. Our previous bishop had removed him from ministry, so I always thought it was odd that Bishop Malone had reinstated him. When I explored his file more in depth, that might have really been the moment when I knew that I had to do something with this information. Remember, the diocese list had 42 names. The documents O'Connor revealed put the number of Buffalo priests facing claims of all types of abuse at 118.

They had accusations against them, credible accusations? Yes, that's right. What did you think of that? I felt that instead of being transparent, we were almost being the opposite or half transparent. Here are the names that we would like you to know about, but please don't ask us about the rest. One of them was Father Fabian Marianski. His file included an accusation that during the 1980s, he had sexual relations with a girl that began when she was just 15. The diocese knew about it, but a note in the file argued Mariansky should be excluded from the list of problem priests.

It said, we did not remove him from ministry despite full knowledge of the case, and so including him on list might require explanation. And I remember thinking, if that's the rationale for leaving a priest off, then how can I abide by this? She was not alone. Father Bob Zilioks advised the bishop on church law, including abuse cases. He told us he was disgusted by how the cases he saw were handled. I think the hypocrisy of the lip service, you know, the yes, Bob, I agree with you, and then I would walk out of an office and nothing would happen. It is exceedingly rare for a Catholic priest to risk challenging his bishop in public. Father Zilliox left his role as the bishop's counsel in May to concentrate on his parish ministry.

A lot of cases should have been handled differently. They were not. A lot of cases probably should have gone to Rome at the time. They did not. How many of those priests should have been taken out of the priesthood? I would argue at least eight or nine. How many of them still are in the priesthood here in Buffalo? All of them. All of them?

All the guys that should have been removed from the priesthood are still priests. What do you think of that? It's beyond troubling. That's not the church. The church is holy. Those are individuals in the church who are weak and who have made very bad decisions. And because of that, they need to be held accountable for what they've done. Why is it, do you think, that the clergy fails to get this?

I think one of the factors that goes into decision-making in terms of administration or leadership within dioceses or in parishes is that there's a certain brotherhood. There's a certain mindset that we watch each other's backs. Bishop Malone has the authority to strip Father Zilliocs of his duties for going public. But the priest told us he is motivated to speak out by more than the truth. He also is a victim of sexual abuse by a Buffalo priest. And so all of this has really been very painful for me, to see how our diocese, how other dioceses have handled this.

How old were you when you were abused? I was a 13-year-old boy. By a priest? By a priest. How did that experience affect you while you were watching how Bishop Malone was handling these cases? It was very difficult in a lot of different ways. There's a certain respect that is owed to a bishop. But when I saw things take place the way they did, I sort of was conflicted within. I think as a victim, I have a bias, which is maybe not a healthy thing,

but objectively, I have no tolerance for any abuse. Every bishop chooses a motto. Bishop Malone's is, live the truth in love. Bishop Malone declined our request for an interview. He's behaving in a way that you would typically think that a CEO in a corporation that's being accused of corrupt practices might act, hiding behind attorneys. Paul Snyder was the first member of Buffalo's Catholic clergy to call for Malone to resign. The hotel owner is a deacon.

That's an ordained member of the clergy who can be married and preside over some ceremonies. He was enraged by the information Siobhan O'Connor exposed. Bishop Malone has called this a crisis. You call it a scandal. What's the difference? A crisis is we look at our home and it's burning to the ground. A scandal is while it's burning to the ground, you know how to put the fire up, but you don't tell me.

You also know how the fire was caused, but you don't tell me. So you pretend to grieve with me about the fire, but the problem is, you caused it. Snyder showed us some of the 400 notes and emails he has received since calling for the bishop to resign. Like, they want to be part of a solution, but they think this bishop is preventing that from occurring. This month, Snyder sent letters and documents to prominent bishops demanding an investigation. Why do you have faith that the bishops are going to handle this? Well, I don't have faith right now that any particular bishops have the courage to do the right thing. I mean, we all praise our martyrs on Sunday.

And we praise and we sing. But boy, it sure as hell is hard being a saint when it's your ass on the line. And I want these cardinals and these bishops to start putting their ass on the line and start protecting their people. Bishops hold supreme power in their diocese and answer only to the Pope. Next month, U.S. bishops will gather to consider a proposal for a bishop code of conduct. Bishop Malone plans to be there. He's refused to resign. The shepherd does not desert the flock at a difficult time.

May God who founded the church... The bishop has made three public apologies and offered to sell his 11,000 square foot official residence to help compensate victims. Last week he sent us a statement that said in part, we continue to reach out to victims, remove clergy with substantiated allegations from ministry, and cooperate with federal and state investigations.

But in Bishop Malone's first six years in Buffalo, just one priest was put on leave. It was only after this scandal broke in March that he suspended 16 more for abuse. None has been kicked out of the priesthood. He has said he's sorry. He has apologized. Do you forgive him? I accept it and I forgive him, but actions speak louder than words. Show us these cases are being handled properly.

Show us the priests are being removed. You would like for Bishop Malone to resign? I would. I believe that it would be in the best interest of the diocese because he's had opportunities to enact real change, and he's let those opportunities come and go. Sometimes historic events suck. But what shouldn't suck is learning about history. I do that through storytelling.

History That Doesn't Suck is a chart-topping history-telling podcast chronicling the epic story of America, decade by decade. Right now, I'm digging into the history of incredible infrastructure projects of the 1930s, including the Hoover Dam, the Empire State Building, the Golden Gate Bridge, and more. The promise is in the title, History That Doesn't Suck. Available on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. It's been four years since the United States launched a bombing campaign against ISIS in Syria. Today, tens of thousands of the extremists are dead, captured,

in hiding, or on the run, and the battle is entering its final phase. Americans know about the barbarity of ISIS, but what's less understood is how the U.S. went about destroying ISIS as a military force, who has been fighting alongside American troops, and what remains to be done. Tonight, we'll take you inside America's war against ISIS in Syria. Last October, ISIS lost control of the city of Raqqa, its headquarters for more than three years. We were there as the city shuddered, pummeled by more than 4,000 US coalition airstrikes. Those civilians who could fled to safety, while ISIS snipers and suicide bombers

lurked inside the splintered buildings of a ghost town, covered in the stench of death. When we returned this past June, there were signs of life. Families coming home, taxis running in the streets, and residents rebuilding as best they could. It was there we met Leila Mustafa, a 30-year-old woman in charge of resurrecting this skeleton of a city. Is this what victory over ISIS looks like?

Born and raised here, Mustafa trained as a civil engineer. She was chosen by a group of community leaders to run the new civilian council and is the closest thing Raqqa has to a mayor. So this is Al-Nayim? No. And this is where ISIS used to execute people? They used to kill innocent civilians in Raqqa, put their heads on spikes for days.

They wanted to show brutality in order to make people obey them. ISIS justified its brutality as the only correct interpretation of Islamic law. The same reason the extremists insisted that women cover nearly every inch of their bodies in public. So last year, when ISIS was still in charge of Raqqa, women couldn't show their faces in this city. And now you, a woman, you're in charge of the city.

It's a challenge. A challenge to the mentality of ISIS and a challenge for women to emerge from the struggles of injustice, violence and exploitation. Leila Mustafa told us that many of the Syrian fighters who helped defeat ISIS in Raqqa were women, members of a militia group known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF. When America was searching for allies on the ground, the SDF stepped forward to fight and die. Block by block, house by house, they became the foot soldiers who took the state out of the Islamic State. Since its peak in 2014,

when ISIS brought their reign of terror to a swath of land in Syria and Iraq, roughly the size of Indiana, their self-proclaimed caliphate has shrunk to a few pockets in the desert. A senior US military officer told us much of the credit belongs to this man, SDF leader General Mazloum Kabbani. He's reclusive and doesn't give many interviews, in part because he's worried he'll be assassinated.

How many soldiers do you have under your command? 60,000. How big was your militia when you first started out? When I started out with my comrades, there were 30 of us. General Kobani built his army in Syria with farmers, factory workers and students. Members of an ethnic minority known as the Kurds dominate the militia. For decades in Syria, the Kurds were treated as second-class citizens. But they've transformed themselves into a disciplined and tenacious fighting force.

How many ISIS fighters have you and your American partners killed, roughly? It's really difficult to give you an accurate number. But I would imagine the rough number would be around 20,000. You know, General, you come across as quiet and mild-mannered and even a bit shy. And I have to tell you, it's not what I expected of a feared militia leader. Thank you. How long do you think it's going to take you to claw back the last remaining pockets of ISIS territory here in Syria? We believe toward the end of this year.

Sources in the U.S. military concur. Just outside the town of Al-Shadadi, we saw American special operations forces working with the SDF to close in on one of the last remaining ISIS safe havens. Around 2,000 U.S. troops are serving in SDF-controlled territory. The desert is dotted with American bases. We wanted to talk to someone in charge at the Pentagon or the State Department, but they both declined our requests.

Instead, we spoke to two U.S. senators who both sit on the Armed Services Committee and recently visited Syria. South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham and Democrat Jean Shaheen from New Hampshire. The strategy has been let's defeat ISIS and we're well on our way there. And this really has happened against very long odds with very few Americans with very little money. The Kurds have come forward when nobody else would to help

us destroy ISIS, which is a threat to you, me, her and everybody else. What do you want to tell the American people about America's partners in Syria? They're worth investing in. They've done most of the fighting. They've done most of the dying. If they take over, they will work with us. This is a damn good deal. Take it. The SDF has lost 12,000 fighters, according to General Kobani, sons and daughters sacrificed in the fight against ISIS. But they've also gained the protection of the world's most powerful military and with American weapons and training, have taken control of about a third of Syria, from the Tigris River in the east to the Euphrates in the west. The rest of the country,

after seven years of chaos and civil war, is mostly back in the hands of the Syrian regime. Five years ago, in your wildest dreams, did you think that one day you'd be partnered with the US military? Honestly, no. We never thought this would happen and the Americans would come here. But it happened. Not everyone is happy about America's newfound friendship with the Kurds in Syria.

The relationship infuriates Turkey, a long-standing U.S. ally that now shares a 250-mile border with SDF territory. Turkey considers the Kurdish forces in Syria to be a terrorist organization because of their deep ties to a group blamed for deadly attacks within Turkey. America has a history of partnering up with the good guys who then turn out to be the bad guys. How can you be sure that's not going to happen here? I know what they've done.

They like us. We couldn't last 15 minutes if they did not protect us. They provide the security for our troops, those forward operating bases that are in that part of Syria. It's the SDF who provide the security for our forces. The SDF aren't just protecting American troops. They're also holding several hundred foreign ISIS fighters captured during the war. We were allowed into one of their prisons and got a glimpse inside a cell holding foreign extremists. One of the SDF's ISIS detainees is Adrien Guihal, who served three years in prison in his native France for plotting

with others to attack the police and a subway station. Back in France, he was also a preacher. The SDF consider Gihal a dangerous terrorist. Gihal denies it and says he only worked for ISIS as a translator. A member of the SDF was present for our interview. Do you want to go back to France? No. Yes. And does France want you back?

No, I don't think so. France's position is they don't take back citizens who were in the Islamic State. So what does that mean? Does that mean you could be here for several years, perhaps the rest of your life? It's not in my hands. Adrian Gihal has not yet officially been charged with a crime. He and other foreign ISIS prisoners from some 40 different countries are, for the time being, in legal purgatory. So you've got 600 plus foreign fighters, not Syrians, and the Europeans don't want to deal with this. And it sounds like the bottom line is that America's Syrian partners are keeping us safe from hundreds of potentially dangerous extremists.

It's a fact. But it's also not a long-term solution. It won't work long-term. We need to work with the European communities and we need to figure out long-term how we're going to deal with these detainees. Back in Raqqa, Leila Mustafa, who runs the city's civilian council, is still dealing with a city in ruins. She told us more than two-thirds of the houses in her hometown have been damaged or destroyed, as well as schools, hospitals and power stations.

You've gone to every neighborhood, you've figured out how much money you need, now you need the money. As I said, the support we are getting isn't enough to meet our needs. Leila Mustafa told us ISIS sleeper cells remain in Raqqa. She fears the group could make a comeback, especially if the city is not rebuilt. While we were there, the U.S US State Department had temporarily frozen around $200 million of civilian aid. In August, it was cancelled. So we spoke to the new, a woman called Leila Mustafa, a 30-year-old woman who is now essentially the mayor of Raqqa. What poetic justice. She said to us, the world has a responsibility to help us

rebuild. Do you agree with that? Her success is our success. So here's what I would say to her. We're all in to help you because if you're in charge of Raqqa, ISIS won't come back and you can live in peace with us. But she didn't get the $200 million that she needs to help demine and rebuild her city. That's why we're here. It's to talk about what we saw and why it's in America's interest. America and its allies have brought ISIS to the brink of destruction in this part of Syria. But the Islamic State has been replaced by a state of uncertainty. This fall marks the 177th season of a renowned American institution,

the New York Philharmonic. It was the first symphony orchestra in North America and is considered one of the finest in the world. Its conductors have included legends, Arturo Toscanini, Gustav Mahler, and the most famous ever American maestro, Leonard Bernstein. So when its most recent conductor, Alan Gilbert, announced he would be departing. The world of classical music was abuzz. Who would be chosen to fill the most coveted orchestra post in the country? The answer, a surprise pick, a Dutchman with a hard-to-pronounce name, Jaap van Zweden. Last month, New York audiences got a chance to meet the new maestro.

Opening night at the New York Phil, Jaap van Zweden's official debut. In the beginning of this search for a new conductor, you weren't even on the list. No. Did you want to be on the list? Of course. So what happened?

Well, I came and I conducted them, and then suddenly they put me on the list. Oh? That's probably what happened. In a world of maestros known for healthy egos and big personalities, 57-year-old Jaap van Zweden is no exception. With his intense focus and some successful visits as a guest conductor, he managed to rise to the top of the list. I'd like to open the envelope and introduce the next music director of the New York Philharmonic, Jaap van Schweeg. But what he walked into was far from perfect harmony. Huge budget deficits, organizational turmoil, and an aging hall in need of renovation.

A tall order for a man who grew up far from New York City in Amsterdam. And who never dreamt of conducting. How many rooms up there? Two rooms. For how many people? Four. I would not say poor, but we had no money. That sounds poor.

My mother had a little hair shop, very little, and my father was a piano teacher. So the music was in your house growing up? Absolutely. And at the weekends, he played to make some extra money with gypsy violinists. And they would come to our little house and rehearse there. And I told my father, that's what I want to do. You told him.

He didn't tell you. No, no, I wanted to do that. I wanted to play the violin. And what Yap wants, he goes after and tends to get. By eight, he was performing. And a few years later, won a national competition with a full scholarship to Juilliard in New York City. He came on his own at 16, but he didn't stay long. The Dutch Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra invited him back home to assume the prestigious post of first violinist.

He was just 19 years old. He'd been back a year when he discovered something else he wanted. I went to this dance place in Amsterdam and I went inside. He says he was mesmerized by a striking young woman on the dance floor. A friend of me who was working there, I said, do you know that girl? Do you see that girl there? And he said, yes, I know who she is. I said, well, I'm going to get married with her. I will marry her, 100%. She really is across the room. She's across the room. I never said hello or anything. Well, did you get to meet her that night?

Yes, and she was not interested at all. At all? No. That girl, named Altia, remembers a persistent young man who told her something about being a musician and offered to leave tickets for her and a friend to see a concert. This beautiful hall, so we were looking, and my friend and me were like, wow, this is gorgeous.

And then the concert started, and no, Jaap. So I said to my friend, see, it's all a joke. I think he's working in the cloakroom. Fortunately for Jaap, she stayed past the intermission when he walked out onto the stage as the featured soloist. And I was like, wow, this is unbelievable. Actually, I played so well this concerto. At that day, I really played for her. And I thought, that will do it. But then I had to wait months and months, so it was not easy for me.

I didn't know that. But he didn't have to wait too long. They were married in their early 20s. Jaap remained first violinist in Amsterdam for almost two decades, as they started a family, and he played under world-renowned conductors like Leonard Bernstein, Lenny to Yap. It was Bernstein, during a rehearsal at a newly renovated concert hall in Berlin, who inadvertently changed the course of Yap's life.

He said to me, you know, this hall is refurbished and I would like to sit in the hall. So he could hear the acoustics? Yes. Would you mind just take over the rehearsal and conduct for me the first symphony of Mahler? And I said, but Lenny, I never conduct. I cannot do it. I never did that. He said, doesn't matter. Just do it. So he did. And Bernstein told him he was lousy. And he was right. Was he right? Yeah, of course. But he said, look, I saw something there. Take this very seriously. See how it is for you to start to conduct.

Conductors typically start young, but at age 38, Yap took a wild leap. He gave up the violin entirely to try to become a conductor. Here you are, first violinist, in one of the best orchestras in the world. Yeah. And somehow you put your violin down, and now you go down to the bottom as a conductor. Yes. The conducting actually grabbed me by the throat,

and I could not resist. He started conducting wherever he could, and within a decade had become chief conductor of the Dallas Symphony, where his work started attracting national attention. The progress of the Dallas Symphony from when Yap took over is almost unthinkable. It's so great. Deborah Borda, then president of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, was impressed. It was a regional orchestra, and now I'd say it's one of the really fine American symphonies. And he did that?

He did that single-handedly. So what's the secret? How does a conductor make an orchestra great? Yap says the real work is in the long, detail-rich hours of rehearsal. This is the moment that there should be a body language, I think, from the strings, like... Can we just do that? That's where his background as first violinist, Borda says, sets him apart. He knows the orchestra from the inside out. He communicates with each section because they need very specific directions.

Please, horns and trumpets. That serves much better the music. Third horn. This is what makes an orchestra fall in love with him. That's way too loud and rushed. But it isn't always love. Yap admits he's demanding. That is not together. And in Dallas, some musicians complained to the newspaper. Tactics of fear, over demanding, you're too critical. I still remember that there was somebody who said, yes, but I'm afraid of you. I said, no, you're not afraid of me. You are afraid of yourself. You did not prepare well. And then blame it on me. But okay, you know, I understand that we are all humans and

the best thing is to be as warm as possible. But you are warm. I've been with you for three days. You did not play in my orchestra yet. No. You won't be warm if I don't prepare. Exactly. Jaap's career has revolved around making music, but music has touched his personal life as well. His and Altia's third child, Benjamin, was diagnosed with autism so severe they were told he should be institutionalized.

When he was five, they told us he will never be able to live independently. He will never be able to have a relation with you or with his sister and brothers. Never connect. Never connect. Benjamin couldn't talk, but he loved hearing his parents sing to him.

When one day they accidentally forgot a word to one of his favorite songs, he got upset. You didn't even know if he was understanding up to that point. No, we didn't have a clue. But the interesting thing is that we repeated the song, and then we left out again the same word. And then we actually put our hands in front of our mouth. And then he tried to remove the hand like this. Oh, my gosh. To have the word.

And then we told him, we will finish the song, but you have to tell. Try. Try. The word. The word. And finally, after months, he said his first word. Oh, my God. And so, but then we had the feeling, now we got you.

Because now we can leave out two words. This is Benjamin. Hello. Nice to meet you. Today, at 28, Benjamin not only talks, he's even learned some English.

And he has close relationships with his whole family, including Yap's father, who recently turned 90. The Von's Fadens have created a foundation that offers music therapy to autistic children throughout the Netherlands and provides a home for young adults with autism where Benjamin now lives as his parents spend more time in New York. And now you come here and see this.

As opening night approached, Yap seemed excited by the challenge. And he has a new partner. Why don't we do something that nobody expects? Deborah Borda, who Yap personally recruited to leave L.A. to become the New York Phil's president and CEO. All the orchestras are suffering in terms of audience, age of the audience. Remember, orchestras are creatures of the 18th century. And here we are, well into the 21st century.

How do we take these orchestras and make them relevant to our time. Well, marketing for starters. The New York Philharmonic is running sleek, hip TV ads to introduce its new maestro. And he has innovative plans to draw audiences in. New works by young composers. Late night concerts where people can listen to music over a glass of wine. And $5 performances for New York City workers Would you consider?

Really good composers of a popular music for the symphony orchestra for special occasions Absolutely, and he tossed out a few names that surprised us. I would love to work with Pharrell. Lady Gaga. Lady Gaga. Why not? Isn't she fantastic? Look out, New York Philharmonic. Yap has been spotted attending raves. Well, when his youngest son Alexander is the DJ. But we're not sure he'll be bringing that music to the concert hall anytime soon. I don't know. Do you call that music? It's called techno. Techno, yes.

You know, you have this incredible beat. Bang, bang, bang, bang. And I try to understand what is this. Maybe I'm a little bit too old for that. So, for opening night, Stravinsky. An intense close to a rousing debut for the latest in a long line of maestros to take the New York Philharmonic baton. If you think about all the phenomenal conductors who were before me

i just can be humble because all those people were chosen and they proved that they were the right choice and now it's my time to prove that i was the right choice. In the mail this week, viewers commented not only about the three stories they saw on last Sunday's broadcast, but also about what they didn't see. The absence of politics of left

versus right, of blue versus red is welcome and greatly appreciated. Thank you. Tonight's episode was like a breath of fresh air to me. I learned something about genetic genealogy, the MTA, and eagle hunting in Mongolia. Leave the politics out and continue with great news stories. I'm Bill Whitaker. We'll be back next week with another edition of 60 Minutes.