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John Adams

John and Samantha Williams Creative Chair

About this Artist

Composer, conductor, and creative thinker – John Adams occupies a unique position in the world of music. His works stand out among contemporary classical compositions for their depth of expression, brilliance of sound, and the profoundly humanist nature of their themes. His operas and oratorios such as Nixon in China, Doctor Atomic and El Niño have transformed the genre of contemporary music theatre. Spanning more than three decades, works such as Harmonielehre, Shaker Loops, Doctor Atomic Symphony and his Violin Concerto are among the most performed and influential of all contemporary classical music. 

As a conductor Adams has led the world’s major orchestras, programming his own works with a wide variety of repertoire ranging from Beethoven, Mozart and Debussy to Sibelius, Ives, Carter, Glass and Ellington. Among his honorary doctorates are those from Yale, Harvard, Northwestern and Cambridge universities and from The Juilliard School. A provocative writer, he is author of the highly acclaimed autobiography Hallelujah Junction and is a frequent contributor to The New York Times Book Review. Since 2009 Adams has been Creative Chair of the Los Angeles Philharmonic 

Born and raised in New England, Adams learned the clarinet from his father and played in marching bands and community orchestras during his formative years. He began composing age ten and his first orchestral pieces were performed while he was still a teenager. Moving to the San Francisco area in the early 1970’s Adams developed longstanding relationships with both the San Francisco Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. 

Adams is recipient of both Spain’s BBVA ​‘Frontiers of Knowledge’ award and Holland’s Erasmus Prize ​“for notable contributions to European culture, society and social science.” His 2002 work On the Transmigration of Souls was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and the New York Philharmonic recording of it won three Grammy awards. His advocacy of the music of his colleagues won him the Ditson Conductor’s Award from Columbia University in recognition for his ​“exceptional commitment to American composers.” 

Conducting engagements in 2024/25 include return visits to The Cleveland Orchestra and Los Angeles Philharmonic, as well as appearing twice in New York – with the New York Philharmonic for subscription concerts, followed in the spring of 2025 by conducting his most recent opera, Antony and Cleopatra at the Metropolitan Opera. In Europe, Adams will appear with Rotterdam Philharmonic and Münchner Philharmoniker. 

Recent conducting engagements include The Cleveland Orchestra, St Louis Symphony and Rotterdam Philharmonic, Teatro del Liceu for the European premiere of Adams’ most recent opera Antony and Cleopatra, performances of Girls of the Golden West with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic to present his opera The Death of Klinghoffer, Iceland Symphony and the Czech Philharmonic at the Prague Spring Festival where he reunited with his frequent collaborator Víkingur Ólafsson to perform his concerto Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes?

 Ólafsson will premiere Adams’ most recent work, After the Fall, a concerto written specifically for the pianist, in San Francisco in January of 2025 with future performances of the work to be conducted by the composer.  

In salute of Adams’ 75th anniversary in 2022, Nonesuch Records released the 40-disc John Adams Collected Works, a box set of recordings spanning more than four decades of the composer’s career with the label. Also available as a box set is the Berliner Philharmoniker’s ​John Adams Edition, a CD and DVD collection comprising seven of his works, conducted by Rattle, Dudamel, Petrenko, Gilbert and Adams. 

The official John Adams website is www.earbox.com.