John Adams (composer) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids John Adams
Adams, sometime before 2008
Born	(1947-02-15) February 15, 1947 (age 78) Worcester, Massachusetts, U.S.
Education	Harvard University
Occupation	Composer conductor
Notable work	List of compositions
Spouse(s)	Deborah O'Grady
Awards	Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition (1995) Pulitzer Prize for Music (2003) Erasmus Prize (2019)

John Coolidge Adams (born February 15, 1947) is a famous American composer and conductor. He is known for his modern classical music, especially his operas. Many of his operas tell stories about important historical events. Besides operas, he has written music for orchestras, choirs, and even electronic instruments.

Adams was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. He grew up in a family that loved music. He listened to many types of music, like classical music, jazz, and rock music. He went to Harvard University to study music. At first, he liked a style called modernism. But then he read a book by John Cage that changed his mind.

Later, Adams started teaching at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He developed his own style, which is often called "minimalist." This style uses repeating musical patterns. His works like Phrygian Gates (1977) and Shaker Loops show this style. He became very active in the music scene in San Francisco. His orchestral pieces Harmonium and Harmonielehre (1985) made him famous across the country. Other popular pieces include Short Ride in a Fast Machine (1986).

Adams's first opera was Nixon in China (1987). It tells the story of Richard Nixon's visit to China in 1972. This opera was the start of many projects with theater director Peter Sellars. At first, people had mixed feelings about the opera. But now, it is performed all over the world and is very respected.

His next opera, The Death of Klinghoffer (1991), was about a ship hijacking in 1985. This opera caused some debate because of its serious topic. Adams continued to write many important works. These include a Violin Concerto (1993) and the opera-oratorio El Niño (2000). He won a Pulitzer Prize for Music for On the Transmigration of Souls (2002). This piece honored the victims of the September 11, 2001, attacks.

Adams kept exploring historical themes. His opera Doctor Atomic (2005) is about J. Robert Oppenheimer and the creation of the first atomic bomb. Later operas include A Flowering Tree (2006) and Girls of the Golden West (2017).

Adams's music often uses the repeating patterns of minimalist composers like Steve Reich and Philip Glass. However, he also adds big, powerful sounds like those found in the music of Wagner and Mahler. He has won many awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, the Erasmus Prize, and five Grammy Awards.

Early Life and Musical Journey

Growing Up with Music

John Coolidge Adams was born on February 15, 1947, in Worcester, Massachusetts. When he was a teenager, he lived in Woodstock, Vermont, and later in East Concord, New Hampshire. His family spent summers by Lake Winnipesaukee. His grandfather even ran a dance hall there!

His family did not have a TV, and they only got a record player when John was ten. But both his parents loved music. His mom was a singer, and his dad played the clarinet. John grew up listening to jazz, American folk music, and Broadway musicals. He even met the famous jazz musician Duke Ellington once.

Learning to Compose

John started playing the clarinet in third grade. His dad taught him first, and then he had lessons with a professional musician. He played in many local bands and orchestras. John began writing his own music at age ten. He heard his music performed for the first time when he was a teenager. He finished high school in 1965.

After high school, Adams went to Harvard University. He studied music composition there and earned two degrees. While at Harvard, he conducted the student orchestra. He was very ambitious with his music choices. At first, he thought music had to keep changing and becoming more modern. But at night, he secretly enjoyed listening to bands like The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix.

For his final project at Harvard, he wrote a musical piece called The Electric Wake. It was for an amplified soprano singer and electric instruments. But it was never performed.

A New Musical Path

After college, Adams read a book by John Cage called Silence: Lectures and Writings. This book made him rethink his ideas about music. He realized that all kinds of sounds could be music. This idea freed him from the strict rules he had learned.

Inspired, he moved to San Francisco. From 1972 to 1982, he taught at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. In the early 1970s, he experimented with electronic music. He even built his own synthesizer, which he called the "Studebaker." He also wrote American Standard, which included a march, a hymn, and a jazz ballad.

Famous Works and Operas

Early Successes

In 1977, Adams wrote a piano piece called Phrygian Gates. He later said it was his first important composition. The next year, he wrote Shaker Loops for a group of seven string instruments. In 1979, his first orchestral piece, Common Tones in Simple Time, was performed.

Adams' first opera, Nixon in China, is about President Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to China.

In 1979, Adams became an adviser for the San Francisco Symphony. He helped create new music concerts for them. The symphony asked him to write a piece, and he created Harmonium (1980–81). This large piece for choir and orchestra used texts by famous poets. He also wrote Grand Pianola Music (1982).

After a period where he couldn't write music, Adams composed Harmonielehre (1984–85). He said this piece showed his belief in the power of traditional musical sounds. He was inspired by a dream where he saw an oil tanker take off like a rocket!

Operas About History

From 1985 to 1987, Adams wrote his first opera, Nixon in China. It was based on Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to China. The words for the opera were written by Alice Goodman. This opera was the first time Adams worked with theater director Peter Sellars. They have worked together on all his operas since then.

Adams has collaborated with theater director Peter Sellars on all of his operas.

During this time, Adams also wrote Short Ride in a Fast Machine (1986). It's a short, exciting piece for orchestra.

His second opera, The Death of Klinghoffer (1991), was about the 1985 hijacking of a cruise ship. It told the story of the murder of a passenger. This opera caused a lot of discussion because of its sensitive topic.

More Important Works

Adams's Chamber Symphony (1992) was inspired by two very different things: a complex piece by another composer and the fast-paced music from his young son's cartoons!

The next year, he wrote his Violin Concerto (1993). This piece has three movements. Adams won the Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition for this concerto.

In 2000, Adams wrote El Niño, an oratorio about birth, especially the birth of Jesus. It uses texts from the Bible and poems by Hispanic writers.

After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the New York Philharmonic asked Adams to write a memorial piece. He created On the Transmigration of Souls (2002). This piece uses an orchestra, adult choir, children's choir, and recordings of victims' names and city sounds. It won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Music.

Adams' third opera, Doctor Atomic, is about J. Robert Oppenheimer (shown above, in 1944) and the development of the atomic bomb in 1945.

His orchestral piece My Father Knew Charles Ives (2003) was inspired by similarities between his father's life and the life of American composer Charles Ives.

For the opening of Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2003, Adams wrote The Dharma at Big Sur. This piece is for an electric violin and orchestra. Adams wanted it to capture the feeling of being on the West Coast, looking out at the ocean.

Adams's third opera, Doctor Atomic (2005), is about physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer and the creation of the first atomic bomb. The opera uses real documents, interviews, and poems. It takes place in the hours before the first atomic bomb test in New Mexico.

Recent Compositions

Adams's next opera, A Flowering Tree (2006), is based on an Indian folktale. It's about a girl who can magically turn into a flowering tree. This opera has themes similar to Mozart's The Magic Flute.

He wrote several pieces for the St. Lawrence String Quartet. These include his First Quartet (2008) and Absolute Jest (2012), which uses music from Beethoven's famous string quartets.

From 2011 to 2013, Adams wrote The Gospel According to the Other Mary. This oratorio focuses on the last weeks of Jesus's life from the perspective of Mary of Bethany.

Scheherazade.2 (2014) is a dramatic symphony for violin and orchestra. It was inspired by the character Scheherazade from One Thousand and One Nights, who tells stories to save her life. Adams connected this to modern stories of injustice against women.

His most recent opera, Girls of the Golden West (2017), is set during the California Gold Rush of the 1850s. It tells true stories of the people who lived during that time, including their struggles and dreams.

In 2023, the Library of Congress announced that it would keep Adams's original music papers and manuscripts. This is a great honor, as his papers will be alongside those of other famous composers.

John Adams's Musical Style

John Adams, Phrygian Gates, measures 21–40 (1977), shows the repeating patterns often found in minimalist music.

John Adams's music is often called minimalist or post-minimalist. This means he uses repeating musical patterns and simple ideas that slowly change. However, he also adds big, powerful sounds, like those found in the music of Wagner and Mahler.

Adams's style is a reaction against very strict and rule-based music that was popular when he was in college. He felt that this kind of music was too rigid.

Reading John Cage's book Silence was a big moment for Adams. Cage believed that all sounds could be music, which gave Adams a lot of freedom. Adams started experimenting with electronic music. He found that working with synthesizers made him believe again in traditional musical sounds.

Some of Adams's pieces mix different styles. For example, Grand Pianola Music (1981–82) uses musical clichés in a funny way. In The Dharma at Big Sur, he uses ideas from books to describe the California landscape.

Adams loves all kinds of music, not just classical. His parents were jazz musicians, and he also listened to rock music. He once said that he wasn't worried about being completely original. He felt like composers like Gustav Mahler and J.S. Bach also built on the music that came before them.

Like other minimalist composers, Adams often uses a steady beat or pulse in his music. This steady rhythm helps to define and control the music.

List of Works

Operas and Stage Works

• Nixon in China (1987)
• The Death of Klinghoffer (1991)
• I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky (song play) (1995)
• El Niño (opera-oratorio) (2000)
• Doctor Atomic (2005)
• A Flowering Tree (2006)
• The Gospel According to the Other Mary (opera-oratorio) (2013)
• Girls of the Golden West (2017)
• Antony and Cleopatra (2022)

Orchestral Works

• Common Tones in Simple Time (1979)
• Grand Pianola Music (1982)
• Shaker Loops (for string orchestra) (1983)
• Harmonielehre (1985)
• The Chairman Dances (1985)
• Tromba Lontana (1986)
• Short Ride in a Fast Machine (1986)
• Fearful Symmetries (1988)
• El Dorado (1991)
• Lollapalooza (1995)
• Slonimsky's Earbox (1996)
• Naïve and Sentimental Music (1998)
• Guide to Strange Places (2001)
• My Father Knew Charles Ives (2003)
• Doctor Atomic Symphony (2007)
• City Noir (2009)
• I Still Dance (2019)
• Frenzy (2023)

Concertos (Music for Solo Instrument with Orchestra)

• For piano:
  • Eros Piano (1989)
  • Century Rolls (1997)
  • Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes? (2018)
  • After the Fall (2024)
• For violin:
  • Violin Concerto (1993)
  • The Dharma at Big Sur (for solo electric violin) (2003)
  • Scheherazade.2 (dramatic symphony for violin) (2014)
• Other concertos:
  • Absolute Jest (for string quartet) (2012)
  • Saxophone Concerto (2013)

Vocal and Choral Works

• Ktaadn (1974)
• Harmonium (1980)
• The Nixon Tapes (from Nixon in China) (1987)
• The Wound-Dresser (1989)
• Choruses from The Death of Klinghoffer (1991)
• On the Transmigration of Souls (2002)

Chamber Music (for Small Groups of Instruments)

• Piano Quintet (1970)
• Wavemaker (for string quartet, voices, tape, and electronics) (1975)
• Shaker Loops (for string septet) (1978)
• Chamber Symphony (1992)
• John's Book of Alleged Dances (for string quartet) (1994)
• Road Movies (for violin and piano) (1995)
• Gnarly Buttons (for clarinet and chamber ensemble) (1996)
• Son of Chamber Symphony (2007)
• Fellow Traveler (for string quartet) (2007)
• First Quartet (2008)
• Second Quartet (2014)

Other Ensemble Works

• American Standard (1973)
• Grounding (1975)
• Scratchband (1996)
• Nancy's Fancy (2001)

Electronic Music

• Heavy Metal (1970)
• Hockey Seen: A Nightmare in Three Periods and Sudden Death (1972)
• Studebaker Love Music (1976)
• Onyx (1976)
• Light Over Water (1983)
• Hoodoo Zephyr (1993)

Piano Music

• Ragamarole (1973)
• Blue Light (1976)
• A Fox at Forty (1978)
• Phrygian Gates (1977)
• China Gates (1977)
• Hallelujah Junction (for two pianos) (1996)
• American Berserk (2001)
• Roll Over Beethoven (for two pianos) (2014)
• I Still Play (2017)

Film Scores

• Matter of Heart (1982)
• American Tapestry (1999)
• Call Me by Your Name, contributions (2017)

Orchestrations and Arrangements

• The Black Gondola (from Liszt) (1989)
• Berceuse élégiaque (from Busoni) (1989)
• Wiegenlied (from Liszt) (1989)
• Six Songs by Charles Ives (from Ives) (1989–93)
• Le Livre de Baudelaire (from Debussy) (1994)
• La Mufa (from Piazzolla) (1995)
• Todo Buenos Aires (from Piazzolla) (1996)

Awards and Recognition

See also

In Spanish: John Adams (compositor) para niños