John Adams
Notable works by John Adams.
A Flowering Tree
A Flowering Tree is an opera in two acts composed by John Adams with a libretto by Adams and Peter Sellars, and commissioned by the New Crowned Hope Festival in Vienna, the San Francisco Symphony,
Read → WorkAbsolute Jest
Absolute Jest is a concerto for string quartet and orchestra by the American composer John Adams. The work was commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony for the orchestra's centennial. Its world
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After the Fall is a piano concerto by the American composer John Adams written for pianist Víkingur Ólafsson. It had its world premiere with the San Francisco Symphony at Louise M. Davies Symphony
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American Berserk is a short composition for solo piano by the American composer John Adams. The work was commissioned by the Carnegie Hall Corporation for the pianist Garrick Ohlsson, to whom the
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American Standard is an early ensemble work by noted American composer John Adams. The work is named for American Standard Brand appliances although Adams says that the title also reflects that the
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Antony and Cleopatra is an opera by American composer John Adams, premiered at the San Francisco Opera in September 2022. An adaptation of William Shakespeare's play Antony and Cleopatra, the
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Century Rolls is a piano concerto by the American composer John Adams. Commissioned by Emanuel Ax, the work dates from 1997. Ax was the soloist in the concerto's premiere on September 25, 1997 in
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Chamber Symphony is a 1992 composition for a 15-member chamber orchestra by American composer John Adams, inspired by Arnold Schoenberg's Chamber Symphony No. 1, Op. 9. It is a three-movement work
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China Gates is a short piano piece composed by the minimalist American composer John Adams in 1977. (Adams soon gave this work a companion, his Phrygian Gates, finished the next year. The latter is
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City Noir is a 2009 symphonic work by the composer John Adams. A primary inspiration for the piece is the work of historian Kevin Starr on urban California in the late 1940s and early 1950s. It
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Doctor Atomic is an opera by the contemporary American composer John Adams, with a libretto by Peter Sellars. It premiered at the San Francisco Opera on October 1, 2005. The work focuses on how
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El Niño is an opera-oratorio by the contemporary American composer John Adams. It was premiered on December 15, 2000, at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris by soloists Dawn Upshaw, Lorraine Hunt
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Eros Piano is a piano concerto written by the American minimalist composer John Adams. The work was commissioned by the Koussevitzky Music Foundation in 1984 and was completed in 1989. Its world
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Girls of the Golden West is an opera in two acts with music by John Adams and a libretto by Peter Sellars. The San Francisco Opera commissioned the work jointly with Dallas Opera, the Dutch National
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Gnarly Buttons is a composition for solo clarinet and chamber ensemble by the American composer John Adams. The London Sinfonietta and Present Music (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) co-commissioned the work.
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Grand Pianola Music is a minimalist composition by the American composer John Adams written in 1981. It was premiered on February 26, 1982, by the San Francisco Symphony in the Japan Center in San
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Guide to Strange Places is an orchestral composition by the American composer John Adams. The work was commissioned by the Amsterdam broadcasting company VARA, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and the
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Hallelujah Junction is a composition for two pianos written in 1996 by the American composer John Adams. Adams titled his autobiography after this composition. A two-CD retrospective album of works
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Harmonielehre is a 40-minute orchestral composition by the American composer John Adams, composed in 1985. In his memoir, Adams wrote that the piece "was a statement of belief in the power of
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Harmonium is a composition for chorus and orchestra by the American composer John Adams, written in 1980–1981 for the first season of Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, California. The work is
Read → WorkI Am Love (film)
I Am Love () is a 2009 Italian romantic drama film directed by Luca Guadagnino, set in Milan around the year 2000. Tilda Swinton plays a rich industrialist's wife who has an affair with a chef. It is
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I Still Play is a set of variations composed in 2017 for solo piano by the American composer John Adams lasting approximately five and a half minutes. The work was composed to celebrate the
Read → WorkI Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky
I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky is a 1995 "song play" with music composed by John Adams and a libretto by June Jordan. The work is scored for three mezzo sopranos, high tenor,
Read → WorkMust the Devil Have All the Good Tunes?
Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes? is a piano concerto by the American composer John Adams. Its title is taken from a saying attributed to Martin Luther. The work was premiered on March 7, 2019
Read → WorkMy Father Knew Charles Ives
My Father Knew Charles Ives is an orchestral triptych by the American composer John Adams. The work was commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony. It was first performed by the San Francisco
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Naive and Sentimental Music is a symphonic work by American composer John Adams. The title of the work alludes to an essay by Friedrich Schiller, On Naïve and Sentimental Poetry, that contrasts a
Read → WorkNixon in China
Nixon in China is an opera in three acts by John Adams with a libretto by Alice Goodman. Adams's first opera, it was inspired by U.S. president Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to the People's Republic of
Read → WorkOn the Transmigration of Souls
On the Transmigration of Souls is a composition for orchestra, mixed chorus, children's choir, and pre-recorded tape by the American composer John Adams (born 1947). It was commissioned by the New
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Phrygian Gates is a piano piece written by minimalist composer John Adams in 1977–1978. The piece, written for the pianist Mack McCray, together with its smaller companion China Gates, written for
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The Saxophone Concerto is a composition for alto saxophone and orchestra by the American composer John Adams. The work was jointly commissioned by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the St. Louis
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Scheherazade.2 is a dramatic symphony for solo violin and orchestra by the American composer John Adams. The work was jointly commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, the Concertgebouw & the Royal
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Shaker Loops is a 1978 composition by American composer John Adams, originally written for string septet. The original "modular" score, published by Associated Music Publisher, has since been
Read → WorkShort Ride in a Fast Machine
Short Ride in a Fast Machine is a 1986 orchestral work by John Adams. Adams applies the description "fanfare for orchestra" to this work and to the earlier Tromba Lontana (1986). The former is also
Read → WorkThe Cabinet of Dr. Ramirez
The Cabinet of Dr. Ramirez is a 1991 modern silent film directed by Peter Sellars and starring Mikhail Baryshnikov, Joan Cusack and Peter Gallagher. It is a loose remake of The Cabinet of Dr.
Read → WorkThe Chairman Dances
The Chairman Dances is a 1985 composition by John Adams, subtitled Foxtrot for Orchestra and lasting about 13 minutes. A commission from the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, it has several dance-like
Read → WorkThe Death of Klinghoffer
The Death of Klinghoffer is an American opera, with music by John Adams to an English-language libretto by Alice Goodman. First produced in Brussels and New York in 1991, the opera is based on the
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The Dharma at Big Sur is a composition for solo electric violin and orchestra by the American composer John Adams. The piece calls for some instruments (harps, piano, samplers) to use just
Read → WorkThe Gospel According to the Other Mary
The Gospel According to the Other Mary is an opera-oratorio by the American composer John Adams. The world premiere took place on May 31, 2012, at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles with
Read → WorkThe Wound-Dresser
The Wound-Dresser is a piece for chamber orchestra and baritone singer by composer John Adams. The piece is an elegiac setting of excerpts from American poet Walt Whitman's poem "The Wound-Dresser"
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Tromba Lontana (lit. "distant trumpet") is an orchestral fanfare written by the American minimalist composer John Adams in 1986. The work was commissioned by the Houston Symphony in commemoration of
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The Violin Concerto by the American composer John Adams was written in 1993. Its premiere was on January 19, 1994, by Jorja Fleezanis with the Minnesota Orchestra, conducted by Edo de Waart, at the
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