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Journal Archives for John Adams

  • John Adams: Yale Commencement 2013
    Tuesday, May 21, 2013
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    John Adams Awarded Honorary Degree from Yale University

    Congratulations to composer John Adams, who received an honorary degree from Yale University at the school's 312th Commencement held in New Haven yesterday. Adams' fellow honorees include Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and author Edwidge Danticat (seated in the photo with Adams). "You have pushed the boundaries of music, layering sound upon sound, playing with silence and speech and song, extending minimalism," read the citation honoring Adams. "Creating symphonies, choral works, concerti, and historical operas, your compositions have comforted and confronted, amused and amazed, challenged and transformed."

  • John Adams profile
    Wednesday, March 6, 2013
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    New John Adams Documentary Film by Mark Kidel to Premiere on BBC4 TV

    American Master: A Portrait of John Adams, a new film documentary about composer John Adams by Mark Kidel, will be broadcast for the first time on BBC4 TV on Friday, March 8, at 8 PM. The film, which offers a journey through the musical landscapes of the composer, will be repeated on BBC HD on March 15. The film will also be screened at the Barbican in London on March 16 as a prelude to the European premiere of Adams's The Gospel According to the Other Mary with the LA Philharmonic conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. Watch an excerpt from the film here.

  • John Adams profile
    Thursday, February 14, 2013
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    Nonesuch to Record John Adams's "City Noir" with St. Louis Symphony

    Nonesuch Records returns to Powell Hall in St. Louis this weekend to record the St. Louis Symphony's performances of John Adams's City Noir, February 15 and 16. John Adams will be in attendance for the recording. The Saturday evening performance will be broadcast live on St. Louis Public Radio, 90.7-KWMU, streaming at stlpublicradio.org. Nonesuch will be back in Powell Hall in October to record a new John Adams concerto written for saxophone. The concerto and City Noir will combined and released by Nonesuch Records at a future date.

  • John Adams: "Harmonielehre" TROSP performance, July 14, 2012
    Monday, February 4, 2013
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    Watch: John Adams’s “Harmonielehre” Performed in a Parking Garage

    Last summer, John Adams’s Harmonielehre was performed in a disused multi-story car park at the Peckham Rye train station in London by a group of young musicians from the UK known as TROSP, The Rite of Spring Project orchestra, led by conductor Chris Stark. A short video of the event was captured by Joanna Beaufoy; watch it here. 

  • John Adams: "Nixon in China" [Blu-ray/DVD] [cover]
    Tuesday, November 20, 2012
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    The Met’s Production of John Adams’ "Nixon in China," Conducted by the Composer, Out Now on Blu-ray/DVD

    The Metropolitan Opera’s performance of John Adams’ Nixon in China, with the composer conducting, is now available on Blu-ray and DVD together in one package from Nonesuch Records. The Met’s production, staged by Adams’ longtime collaborator Peter Sellars, stars James Maddalena as Richard Nixon. Nixon in China was recorded and broadcast live in movie theaters around the world as a part of The Met: Live in HD on February 12, 2011—10 days after the opera received its Met premiere.The San Jose Mercury News features the Blu-ray/DVD in its holiday Gift Guide, calling Adams' score "multigeared and multicolored, transforming like a kaleidoscopic engine."

  • John Adams: "Nixon in China" [Blu-ray/DVD] [cover]
    Monday, October 22, 2012
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    Nonesuch Releases the Met’s Production of John Adams’ "Nixon in China," Conducted by the Composer, on Blu-ray/DVD, November 19

    Nonesuch Records releases the Metropolitan Opera’s performance of John Adams’ Nixon in China, with the composer conducting, on Blu-ray and DVD together in one package on November 19, 2012; pre-order now. The Met’s production, staged by Peter Sellars, stars James Maddalena as Richard Nixon, a role he created at the opera’s world premiere 25 years ago and has since performed at international leading opera houses. Nixon in China was recorded and broadcast live in movie theaters around the world as part of The Met: Live in HD on February 12, 2011—10 days after the opera received its Met premiere.

  • John Adams 2009 color w/scores
    Tuesday, September 4, 2012
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    John Adams Named BBC Radio 3's Composer of the Week

    John Adams has been selected as BBC Radio 3’s Composer of the Week. All week, the program is presenting interviews with Adams along with illustrative examples of music from Nonesuch recordings throughout his career, from 1973's Christian Zeal & Activity to his 2008 String Quartet, as heard on his latest Nonesuch album. Adams also conducts his opera Nixon in China live from Royal Albert Hall on BBC Radio 3 for Prom 72 on Wednesday.

  • John Adams profile
    Tuesday, June 12, 2012
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    John Adams's New "Gospel" "Contains Some of the Strongest, Most Impassioned Music of His Career" (The New Yorker)

    John Adams's music has featured prominently in California concert calendars of late, with the recent world premiere of his new oratorio, The Gospel According to the Other Mary, by the LA Philharmonic, and last weekend's Bay Area premiere of his first opera, Nixon in China, by the San Francisco Opera. The Gospel "contains some of the strongest, most impassioned music of Adams’s career," raves The New Yorker. It is "an immensely potent work, one that may prove pivotal in the composer's output." The San Francisco Chronicle says the piece "finds Adams at his most evocative and inventive." Of Nixon in China, the Chronicle says it "has taken its rightful place as one of the great operas of the latter part of the 20th century. And Friday's performance came as a welcome reminder of how audacious and yet assured this work is."

  • John Adams: "Nixon in China" [2011 cover]
    Friday, June 8, 2012
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    John Adams's "Nixon in China" Makes San Francisco Opera Debut; Atlanta Symphony Performs "A Flowering Tree"

    John Adams's first opera, Nixon in China, makes its San Francisco Opera debut tonight at the War Memorial Opera House, the opening night of the Opera's Summer Season and the first of seven performances of Adams's piece. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the landmark work and the 40th anniversary of Nixon's visit to China. Watch a preview video here. Also this weekend, Adams's latest opera, A Flowering Tree, will be performed by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra with the three principals who originated their roles.

  • John Adams profile
    Thursday, May 31, 2012
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    John Adams's "Gospel According to the Other Mary" to Be Given World Premiere by LA Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel

    John Adams's new oratorio, The Gospel According to the Other Mary, with a libretto by Peter Sellars, receives its world premiere tonight in the first of four performances this week by the LA Philharmonic and conductor Gustavo Dudamel at Walt Disney Concert Hall. "Adams' take on his subject is a timely, politically engaged one and unabashedly so," says the Los Angeles Times. "However, the politics of Gospel are artfully melded with its broader humanistic and spiritual concerns ... If Adams' work is notable for its willingness to grapple with such thorny subtexts, it's also been lauded for its emotional intensity and accessibility." Watch Adams discuss the piece in a video here.

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