I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky

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DescriptionExcerpt

Adams’s “song play,” with a libretto by June Jordan, uses the 1994 Northridge, California, earthquake as a starting point, to explore race, gender, and immigration issues among young Angelenos. The Boston Globe regards it as some of “the most successful crossover music written in our time.” 

Description

Titled after a quote from a survivor of the 1994 Northridge, California, earthquake, John Adams’s I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky, released October 30, 1998, on Nonesuch Records, is the composer’s third collaboration with director Peter Sellars. His previous two, Nixon in China and The Death of Klinghoffer, have been frequently staged and have brought worldwide attention to this visionary pairing. The Ceiling/Sky libretto was written by June Jordan, poet and much lauded essayist on African American culture.

Set in Los Angeles, the story focuses on the lives of seven characters that become intertwined on their journey toward love and self-discovery. The cast for the recording includes Audra McDonald, Marin Mazzie, Michael McElroy, Richard Muenz, Angela Teek, Darius De Haas, and Welly Yang. When a catastrophic earthquake occurs, they are forced to confront unavoidable truths and their lives become irrevocably changed. Rich in the sound and rhythms of American urban life, Jordan’s libretto makes a rippling counterpoint of several love stories against a background of misunderstanding, violence, idealism and ingenuity. The characters, all in their 20s, are a cross section of young Americans, including David, a handsome young Baptist minister; Consuelo, a single mother of two and an “illegal alien”; and the young LAPD cop, Mike, who is caught between the desire to help the people on his beat and the need to look tough to his coworkers. The signal event of the drama, the onset of the devastating Northridge earthquake, serves as a shock to all the characters and forces them to rethink their lives.

The music for Ceiling/Sky comprises 22 separate numbers, 15 of which appear on this album. The styles move over a large terrain of American vernacular music and show influences of Gospel, R&B, rock ‘n roll, blues, and Broadway, but always with the individuality of Adams’s musical voice. In drawing on the wealth of contemporary musical styles for this score, Adams cited both Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess and Bernstein’s West Side Story as models for his approach. The seven young singers, most with Broadway backgrounds, are accompanied by an eight-piece band conducted by Adams on this release. The orchestration calls for three keyboards, saxophone, clarinet and bass clarinet, electric bass, guitar, and drums.

Ceiling/Sky received its premiere on May 11, 1995, in Berkeley, California, after which it toured extensively throughout the world. With nearly 80 performances in all, Ceiling/Sky was seen in such cities as Montreal, New York, Helsinki, Paris, Hamburg, and Edinburgh, where it was hailed by London’s Sunday Telegraph as “an invigorating experience, thanks to the bursting exuberance of the brilliant cast and the vitality, power and poetry of Adams’s score.”

ProductionCredits

PRODUCTION CREDITS
Music by John Adams
Libretto by June Jordan
Original production directed by Peter Sellars

Produced by Tommy Krasker
Recorded December 1996 at Arabian Studiot, Helsinki, Finland
Engineer: Antti Murto
Additional recording May 1997 at Avatar Studio, New York City
Engineered and mixed by Tom Lazarus
Assistant Engineer: Rory Romano
Edited by Paul Zinman, SoundByte, New York City
Mixed at Skywalker Sound, San Rafael, CA, and Sound on Sound Recording, New York City
Mastered by Ric Wilson, Digisonics, Northridge, CA
Casting consultants: Julie Hughes and Barry Moss
Original production engineered by Mark Grey

Design by John Gall
Cover photos (left to right): top row—artwork by Erick “Duke” Montenegro, photographed by Matt Warnock; photograph by Patrick Downs / Los Angeles Times; middle row—photographs by Patrick Downs / Los Angeles Times and Michael Schumann; bottom row—artwork by Jose “Noek” Lopez, photographed by Matt Warnock; photograph by Los Angeles Times

Executive Producer: Robert Hurwitz

Nonesuch Selection Number

79473

Number of Discs in Set
1disc
ns_album_artistid
2
ns_album_id
3
ns_album_releasedate
ns_genre_1
0
ns_genre_2
0
Album Status
Artist Name
John Adams
MusicianDetails

MUSICIANS
Cast (in order of appearance):
Consuelo: Audra McDonald
Dewain: Michael McElroy
Rick: Welly Yang
Leila: Angela Teek
David: Darius de Haas
Tiffany: Marin Mazzie
Mike: Richard Muenz
Vocal direction by Grant Gershon

Ensemble:
Seppo Kantonen, keyboard I (piano)
Marja Mutru, keyboard II
Markku Tabell, keyboard III
Janne Murto, saxophone
Kari Tenkanen, clarinet, bass clarinet
Hannu Rantanen, electric bass, contrabass
Jari Nieminen, guitar
Jari-Pekka Karvonen, percussion

Conducted by John Adams

Cover Art
UPC/Price
Label
CD+MP3
UPC
075597947328BUN
Label
MP3
Price
9.00
UPC
075597947366
  • I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky
    by

  • 79473

News & Reviews

  • Girls of the Golden West, John Adams’ eighth music theater work to be released by Nonesuch, is due April 26. The composer leads the LA Phil in this recording made in Disney Hall, with the Los Angeles Master Chorale led by Grant Gershon. You can hear the aria "Wagon Ride," featuring Davóne Tines and Julia Bullock, now. For the opera, which tells the story of the California Gold Rush, longtime Adams collaborator Peter Sellars drew from original sources from the era—letters, journals, newspaper articles, and familiar song lyrics—to create the libretto. The cast also includes Paul Appleby, Hye Jung Lee, Elliot Madore, Daniela Mack, and Ryan McKinny.

  • The Metropolitan Opera has announced its 2024–25 season, including the Met premiere of John Adams's latest opera, Antony and Cleopatra, on May 12, 2025. The adaptation of Shakespeare’s drama stars soprano Julia Bullock, following her company debut in Adams’s El Niño this April, as Cleopatra, opposite bass-baritone Gerald Finley’s Antony. Adams himself conducts a new staging by director Elkhanah Pulitzer, who transports the story from ancient Rome to the Golden Age of Hollywood in the 1930s. Performances run through June 7, 2025. 

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  • About This Album

    Titled after a quote from a survivor of the 1994 Northridge, California, earthquake, John Adams’s I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky, released October 30, 1998, on Nonesuch Records, is the composer’s third collaboration with director Peter Sellars. His previous two, Nixon in China and The Death of Klinghoffer, have been frequently staged and have brought worldwide attention to this visionary pairing. The Ceiling/Sky libretto was written by June Jordan, poet and much lauded essayist on African American culture.

    Set in Los Angeles, the story focuses on the lives of seven characters that become intertwined on their journey toward love and self-discovery. The cast for the recording includes Audra McDonald, Marin Mazzie, Michael McElroy, Richard Muenz, Angela Teek, Darius De Haas, and Welly Yang. When a catastrophic earthquake occurs, they are forced to confront unavoidable truths and their lives become irrevocably changed. Rich in the sound and rhythms of American urban life, Jordan’s libretto makes a rippling counterpoint of several love stories against a background of misunderstanding, violence, idealism and ingenuity. The characters, all in their 20s, are a cross section of young Americans, including David, a handsome young Baptist minister; Consuelo, a single mother of two and an “illegal alien”; and the young LAPD cop, Mike, who is caught between the desire to help the people on his beat and the need to look tough to his coworkers. The signal event of the drama, the onset of the devastating Northridge earthquake, serves as a shock to all the characters and forces them to rethink their lives.

    The music for Ceiling/Sky comprises 22 separate numbers, 15 of which appear on this album. The styles move over a large terrain of American vernacular music and show influences of Gospel, R&B, rock ‘n roll, blues, and Broadway, but always with the individuality of Adams’s musical voice. In drawing on the wealth of contemporary musical styles for this score, Adams cited both Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess and Bernstein’s West Side Story as models for his approach. The seven young singers, most with Broadway backgrounds, are accompanied by an eight-piece band conducted by Adams on this release. The orchestration calls for three keyboards, saxophone, clarinet and bass clarinet, electric bass, guitar, and drums.

    Ceiling/Sky received its premiere on May 11, 1995, in Berkeley, California, after which it toured extensively throughout the world. With nearly 80 performances in all, Ceiling/Sky was seen in such cities as Montreal, New York, Helsinki, Paris, Hamburg, and Edinburgh, where it was hailed by London’s Sunday Telegraph as “an invigorating experience, thanks to the bursting exuberance of the brilliant cast and the vitality, power and poetry of Adams’s score.”

    Credits

    MUSICIANS
    Cast (in order of appearance):
    Consuelo: Audra McDonald
    Dewain: Michael McElroy
    Rick: Welly Yang
    Leila: Angela Teek
    David: Darius de Haas
    Tiffany: Marin Mazzie
    Mike: Richard Muenz
    Vocal direction by Grant Gershon

    Ensemble:
    Seppo Kantonen, keyboard I (piano)
    Marja Mutru, keyboard II
    Markku Tabell, keyboard III
    Janne Murto, saxophone
    Kari Tenkanen, clarinet, bass clarinet
    Hannu Rantanen, electric bass, contrabass
    Jari Nieminen, guitar
    Jari-Pekka Karvonen, percussion

    Conducted by John Adams

    PRODUCTION CREDITS
    Music by John Adams
    Libretto by June Jordan
    Original production directed by Peter Sellars

    Produced by Tommy Krasker
    Recorded December 1996 at Arabian Studiot, Helsinki, Finland
    Engineer: Antti Murto
    Additional recording May 1997 at Avatar Studio, New York City
    Engineered and mixed by Tom Lazarus
    Assistant Engineer: Rory Romano
    Edited by Paul Zinman, SoundByte, New York City
    Mixed at Skywalker Sound, San Rafael, CA, and Sound on Sound Recording, New York City
    Mastered by Ric Wilson, Digisonics, Northridge, CA
    Casting consultants: Julie Hughes and Barry Moss
    Original production engineered by Mark Grey

    Design by John Gall
    Cover photos (left to right): top row—artwork by Erick “Duke” Montenegro, photographed by Matt Warnock; photograph by Patrick Downs / Los Angeles Times; middle row—photographs by Patrick Downs / Los Angeles Times and Michael Schumann; bottom row—artwork by Jose “Noek” Lopez, photographed by Matt Warnock; photograph by Los Angeles Times

    Executive Producer: Robert Hurwitz

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