Continuing with historical subjects, Adams wrote the opera Doctor Atomic (2005), based on J. Adams won a Pulitzer Prize for Music for On the Transmigration of Souls (2002), a piece for orchestra and chorus commemorating the victims of the September 11, 2001, attacks. His next notable works include a Chamber Symphony (1992), a Violin Concerto (1993), the opera- oratorio El Niño (2000), the orchestral piece My Father Knew Charles Ives (2003) and the six-string electric violin concerto The Dharma at Big Sur. Begun soon after Nixon in China, the opera The Death of Klinghoffer (1991) was based on the Palestinian Liberation Front's 1985 hijacking and murder of Leon Klinghoffer and incited considerable controversy over its content and choice of subject matter. Though the work's reception was initially mixed, it has become increasingly favored since its premiere, receiving performances worldwide. Īdams's first opera was Nixon in China (1987), which recounts Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to China and was the first of many collaborations with theatre director Peter Sellars. Other popular works from this time include the fanfare Short Ride in a Fast Machine (1986) and the orchestral work El Dorado (1991). Increasingly active in the contemporary music scene of San Francisco, his large-scale orchestral orchestral works Harmonium and Harmonielehre (1985) first gained him national attention. Teaching at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Adams developed his own minimalist aesthetic, which was first fully realized in Phrygian Gates (1977) and later in the string septet Shaker Loops. Though his earliest work was aligned with modernist music, he began to disagree with its tenets upon reading John Cage's Silence: Lectures and Writings. He attended Harvard University, studying with Kirchner, Sessions and Del Tredici among others. Apart from opera, his oeuvre includes orchestral, concertante, vocal, choral, chamber, electroacoustic and piano music.īorn in Worcester, Massachusetts, Adams grew up in a musical family, being regularly exposed to classical music, jazz, musical theatre and rock music. Among the most regularly performed composers of contemporary classical music, he is particularly noted for his operas, which are often centered around recent historical events. John Coolidge Adams (born February 15, 1947) is an American composer and conductor whose music is rooted in minimalism. Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition (1995).Not the First Public Classical Music Abuse Story i.Statement from the Metropolitan Opera Regarding Ja.Claire Chase: Density 2036 at Cal Performances.Further to Previous: Levine Replacements.Girls of the Golden West, San Francisco Opera Worl.Friday Photo: At the grave of Muzio Clementi.San Francisco Tape Music Festival, 2018.#MeToo Comes to UC Davis Music Department.Friday Photo: At the grave of Johann Peter Salomon.More on Sexual Abuse in the Classical Music World.For sure, Hye Jung Lee would be a great Queen of the Night.) I hope to see all of them many times for years to come. (I wonder if Davóne Tines has Sarastro in his voice, or if he would make a better Speaker. On the other program (which I didn't hear), J’Nai Bridges sang Parto, Parto.
#JOHN ADAMS GIRLS OF THE GOLDEN WEST REVIEW JOSHUA KOSMAN SERIES#
The LA Phil raided them in October for its series on Mozart's last year: in the Magic Flute program, Paul Appleby sang Tamino, Julia Bullock Pamina, and Elliot Madore an excessively winsome Papageno. And it is a problem that the prose text has been set to mostly prosaic vocal lines. I was repeatedly ready for a section to end before it did, and I imagine that the whole show could easily lose 20 minutes without anyone noticing anything missing.
The second act rises to a fine climax at the end, and Dame Shirley's postlude is beautiful. I liked it better than many, I imagine partly because your review and the others suitably adjusted my expectations. Mark Swed's review is up now on the LA Times website. Patricia Wallinga, a long Twitter thread.Stephen Smoliar at the premiere and his second visit, The Rehearsal Studio.Harvey Steiman, Seen and Heard International.John Rockwell, Musical America (behind a paywall).Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times of London (behind a paywall).Brian Holt, Out West Arts, who really was the last to publish.Georgia Rowe, Mercury-News, calls it triumphant.Janos Gereben is also unhappy, at Opera West.Joshua Kosman, rolling his eyes, delivers a one-two punch at music and libretto in the SF Chron.Added today: Alex Ross, Hugh Canning, Batty Masetto, Michael Strickland. It's December 7 and I think I've got everything that will be published. It's December 9 and I've added John Masko and Patricia Wallinga to the list.
Cory Weaver photo, courtesy of San Francisco OperaĪND it's December 12 and I've added John Rockwell.