One of America's most admired and respected
composers, John Adams is a musician of enormous range and technical command. His
works, both operatic and symphonic, stand out among contemporary
classical compositions for their depth of expression, brilliance of
sound, and the profoundly humanist nature of their themes.
In 2009 John Adams was appointed the Creative Chair of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Adams learned the clarinet from his father and played in marching bands and community orchestras during his formative years.
He began composing at age ten and heard his first orchestral pieces performed while still a teenager.
Over the past 25 years, Adams' music has played a decisive role in turning the tide of contemporary musical aesthetics away from academic modernism and toward a more expansive, expressive language, entirely characteristic of his New World surroundings.
Today he is an active conductor, appearing with the world's greatest orchestras and with programs combining his own works with others by composers as diverse as Debussy, Strauss, Sibelius, Stravinsky, Ravel, Ives, and Ellington, as well as his contemporaries Zappa, Reich, Glass, and Michael Gordon.
GREEN UMBRELLA 2015-16: CONTEMPORARY MUSIC AT WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALLLA Phil
VIDEO: The Green Umbrella series is the Los Angeles Philharmonic at its most intellectually daring, inventing the future of sound with each iteration of living composers and masterful musicians, and teeming with new commissions and world premieres. Here, Adams and other artists provide an overview of the 2015/16 Green Umbrella concerts at Walt Disney Concert Hall.
JOHN ADAMS ON "THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THE OTHER MARY"LA Phil
VIDEO: LA Phil Creative Chair John Adams discusses the writing process and story behind his evening-length oratorio The Gospel According to the Other Mary.
JOHN ADAMS ON STAGING "THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THE OTHER MARY"LA Phil
VIDEO: Longtime collaborators John Adams and Peter Sellars work separately from each other - Adams composes, while Sellars assembles the libretto and directs. At least that's the process they've refined over the years with works such as Dr. Atomic, The Death of Klinghoffer, and The Gospel According to the Other Mary, a work that received its staged world premiere on March 7, 2013. In this clip, Adams shares his thoughts on Sellars' direction and seeing the work onstage for the first time.
JOHN ADAMS & PETER SELLARS ON "THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THE OTHER MARY"LA Phil
VIDEO: Composer John Adams and his collaborator/librettist Peter Sellars discuss the process of writing the oratorio The Gospel According to the Other Mary, including the challenges of presenting such a familiar story from the perspective of women, both Biblical and contemporary.
JOHN ADAMS ON PHILIP GLASSLA Phil
VIDEO: LA Phil Creative Chair John Adams discusses Philip Glass' Symphony No. 9, co-commissioned by the LA Phil, Bruckner Orchester Linz, and Carnegie Hall. The work received its West Coast premiere with John Adams conducting the LA Phil at Walt Disney Concert Hall on April 5-7, 2012.
JOHN ADAMS ON LEILA JOSEFOWICZLA Phil
VIDEO: Composer and LA Phil Creative Chair John Adams discusses his ongoing relationship with violin virtuosa Leila Josefowicz, her commitment to new music, and her dedication to being involved in the creative process.
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