Editing John Adams (composer) (section)

{{short description|American composer (born 1947)}}
{{For|other people named John Adams|John Adams (disambiguation)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name          = John Adams
| image         = JA-portrait-1-LW.jpg
| caption       = Adams, sometime before 2008
| birth_date    = {{birth date and age|1947|02|15}}
| birth_place   = [[Worcester, Massachusetts]], U.S.
| education     = [[Harvard University]]
| spouse       = Deborah O'Grady
| occupation    = {{hlist|Composer|conductor}}
| notable_works = [[#List of works|List of compositions]]
| website       = {{URL|earbox.com/}}
| awards        = {{plainlist|
* [[Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition]] (1995)
* [[Pulitzer Prize for Music]] (2003)
* [[Erasmus Prize]] (2019)
}}
}}
'''John Coolidge Adams''' (born February 15, 1947) is an American composer and conductor. Among the most regularly performed composers of [[contemporary classical music]], he is particularly noted for his [[opera]]s, many of which center around historical events.{{sfn|Cahill|2001|loc="Introduction"}}{{sfn|''Britannica''|2021|loc="Introduction"}} Apart from opera, [[#List of works|his oeuvre]] includes orchestral, [[concerto|concertante]], vocal, choral, [[chamber music|chamber]], [[electroacoustic music|electroacoustic]], and piano music.

Born in [[Worcester, Massachusetts]], Adams grew up in a musical family and was exposed to [[classical music]], [[jazz]], [[musical theatre]], and [[rock music]]. He attended [[Harvard University]], studying with [[Leon Kirchner]], [[Roger Sessions]], and [[David Del Tredici]], among others. His earliest work was aligned with [[Modernism (music)|modernist music]], but he began to disagree with its tenets upon reading [[John Cage]]'s ''[[Silence: Lectures and Writings]]''. Teaching at the [[San Francisco Conservatory of Music]], Adams developed a minimalist aesthetic first fully realized in ''[[Phrygian Gates]]'' (1977) and later in the string septet ''[[Shaker Loops]]''. Adams became increasingly active in [[San Francisco]]'s contemporary music scene, and his orchestral works ''[[Harmonium (Adams)|Harmonium]]'' and ''[[Harmonielehre]]'' (1985) first gained him national attention.{{sfn|Cahill|2001|loc="1. Life"}} Other popular works from this time include the [[fanfare]] ''[[Short Ride in a Fast Machine]]'' (1986) and the orchestral work ''El Dorado'' (1991).{{sfn|''Britannica''|2021|loc="Ensembles, chamber music, and orchestral works"}}

Adams's first opera was ''[[Nixon in China]]'' (1987), which recounts [[Richard Nixon]]'s [[Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to China|1972 visit to China]] and was the first of many collaborations with theatre director [[Peter Sellars]]. Though the work's reception was initially mixed, it has become increasingly respected since its premiere, receiving performances worldwide. Begun soon after ''Nixon in China'', the opera ''[[The Death of Klinghoffer]]'' (1991) was based on the [[Palestinian Liberation Front]]'s [[Achille Lauro hijacking|1985 hijacking and murder]] of [[Leon Klinghoffer]] and incited considerable controversy for its subject matter. His next notable works include a [[Chamber Symphony (Adams)|Chamber Symphony]] (1992), a [[Violin Concerto (Adams)|Violin Concerto]] (1993), the opera-[[oratorio]] ''[[El Niño (opera)|El Niño]]'' (2000), the orchestral piece ''[[My Father Knew Charles Ives]]'' (2003), and the six-string [[electric violin]] concerto ''[[The Dharma at Big Sur]]''. 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 attacks|September 11, 2001 attacks]]. Continuing with historical subjects, Adams wrote the opera ''[[Doctor Atomic]]'' (2005), based on [[J. Robert Oppenheimer]], the [[Manhattan Project]], and the building of the first [[atomic bomb]]. Later operas include ''[[A Flowering Tree]]'' (2006) and ''[[Girls of the Golden West (opera)|Girls of the Golden West]]'' (2017).

In many ways, Adams's music is developed from the minimalist tradition of [[Steve Reich]] and [[Philip Glass]], but he tends to more readily engage in the immense orchestral textures and climaxes of late [[Romantic music|Romanticism]] in the vein of [[Wagner]] and [[Mahler]]. His style is to a considerable extent a reaction against the modernism and [[serialism]] of the [[Second Viennese School|Second Viennese]] and [[Darmstadt School]]s. In addition to the Pulitzer, Adams has received the [[Erasmus Prize]], a [[Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition|Grawemeyer Award]], five [[Grammy Award]]s, the [[Harvard Arts Medal]], France's [[Ordre des Arts et des Lettres]], and six honorary doctorates.