Editing John Adams (composer) (section)

==Life and career==

===Youth and early career===
John Coolidge Adams was born in [[Worcester, Massachusetts]], on February 15, 1947.<ref name=WarrackWest>{{harvnb|Warrack|West|1992|p=4}}</ref> As an adolescent, he lived in [[Woodstock, Vermont]], for five years before moving to [[Concord, New Hampshire|East Concord, New Hampshire]],<ref>{{harvnb|Adams|2008|pp=9–11}}</ref> and his family spent summers on the shores of [[Lake Winnipesaukee]], where his grandfather ran a dance hall. Adams's family did not own a television, and did not have a record player until he was ten. But both his parents were musicians, his mother a singer with big bands, and his father a clarinetist.<ref>{{harvnb|Ross|2007|pp=583}}</ref> He grew up with [[jazz]], Americana, and [[Broadway musicals]], once meeting [[Duke Ellington]] at his grandfather's dance hall.<ref name=":9">{{harvnb|Ross|2007|pp=583–584}}</ref> Adams also played [[baseball]] as a boy.<ref name=":8">{{Cite web|title=Adams, John|url=https://www.sfcv.org/learn/composer-gallery/adams-john|access-date=September 3, 2020|website=San Francisco Classical Voice|archive-date=September 28, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200928092952/https://www.sfcv.org/learn/composer-gallery/adams-john|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the third grade, Adams took up the clarinet, initially taking lessons from his father, Carl Adams, and later with [[Boston Symphony Orchestra]] bass clarinetist Felix Viscuglia. He also played in various local orchestras, concert bands, and marching bands while a student.<ref name=":4">{{harvnb|Adams|2008|pp=14–21}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite web|last1=Willis|first1=Sarah|last2=Adams|first2=John|date=September 17, 2016|title=John Adams in conversation with Sarah Willis|url=https://www.digitalconcerthall.com/en/interview/23436-3|access-date=September 2, 2020|website=Digital Concert Hall}}</ref> Adams began composing at age ten and first heard his music performed as a teenager.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Adams|first=John|title=John Adams Biography|url=https://www.earbox.com/john-adams-biography/|access-date=September 3, 2020|website=Earbox}}</ref> He graduated from [[Concord High School (New Hampshire)|Concord High School]] in 1965.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.concord.k12.nh.us/alumni/hist/disting/notables.htm |title=Concord high school notables |publisher=Concord High School |access-date=December 17, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131221172824/http://www.concord.k12.nh.us/alumni/hist/disting/notables.htm |archive-date=December 21, 2013 }}</ref>

Adams next enrolled in [[Harvard University]], where he earned a bachelor of arts, magna cum laude, in 1969 and a master of arts in 1971, studying composition with [[Leon Kirchner]], [[Roger Sessions]], [[Earl Kim]], [[Harold Shapero]], and [[David Del Tredici]].<ref name="WarrackWest" />{{sfn|Cahill|2001|loc="1. Life"}} As an undergraduate, he conducted Harvard's student ensemble, the [[Bach Society Orchestra of Harvard University|Bach Society Orchestra]], for a year and a half; his ambitious programming drew criticism in the student newspaper, where one of his concerts was called "the major disappointment of last week's musical offerings".<ref>{{harvnb|Adams|2008|p=38}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Bach Society {{!}} News {{!}} The Harvard Crimson |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1968/4/29/the-bach-society-pbtbhe-bach-society/ |access-date=December 16, 2022 |website=www.thecrimson.com}}</ref> Adams also became engrossed by the strict [[Modernism (music)|modernism]] of the 20th century (such as that of [[Boulez]]) while at Harvard, and believed that music had to continue progressing, to the extent that he once wrote a letter to [[Leonard Bernstein]] criticizing the supposed stylistic reactionism of ''[[Chichester Psalms]]''.<ref name=":7">{{harvnb|Ross|2007|pp=584}}</ref> But by night, Adams enjoyed listening to [[The Beatles]], [[Jimi Hendrix]], and [[Bob Dylan]],<ref name=":9" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Why John Adams Won't Write an Opera About President Trump|url=https://www.kqed.org/arts/12731274/why-john-adams-wont-write-an-opera-about-president-trump|access-date=September 19, 2020|website=KQED|date=February 7, 2017|archive-date=August 15, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200815203607/https://www.kqed.org/arts/12731274/why-john-adams-wont-write-an-opera-about-president-trump|url-status=live}}</ref> and has said he once stood in line at eight in the morning to purchase a copy of ''[[Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band]].''<ref name=":6" />

Adams was the first Harvard student to be allowed to write a musical composition for his senior thesis.<ref name=":5">{{Cite news|last=Dyer|first=Richard|date=May 1, 2009|title=Music, Taken Personally|url=https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2009/05/music-taken-personally|access-date=September 3, 2020|website=Harvard Magazine}}</ref>{{sfn|''Britannica''|2021|loc="Early life and career"}} For his thesis, he wrote ''The Electric Wake'' for "electric" (i.e., amplified) soprano accompanied by an ensemble of "electric" strings, keyboards, harp, and percussion.<ref>{{harvnb|Adams|2008|pp=49–50}}</ref> A performance could not be put together at the time, and Adams has never heard the piece performed.<ref name=":5" />

After graduating, Adams received a copy of [[John Cage]]'s book ''[[Silence: Lectures and Writings]]'' from his mother. Largely shaken of his loyalty to modernism, he was inspired to move to San Francisco,<ref name=":7" /> where he worked at the [[San Francisco Conservatory of Music]] from 1972 until 1982,{{sfn|''Britannica''|2021|loc="Early life and career"}} teaching classes and directing the school's New Music Ensemble. In the early 1970s, Adams wrote several pieces of [[electronic music]] for a homemade [[modular synthesizer]] he called the "Studebaker".<ref>{{harvnb|Adams|2008|pp=72–73}}</ref> He also wrote ''[[American Standard (Adams)|American Standard]]'', comprising three movements, a [[March (music)|march]], a [[hymn]], and a [[jazz ballad]], which was recorded and released on [[Obscure Records]] in 1975.<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Adams|first=John|title=Sonic Youth|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/08/25/sonic-youth|access-date=November 24, 2020|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]|date=August 18, 2008 |ref=none}}</ref>

===1977 to ''Nixon in China''===
[[File:President Richard Nixon and Mao Zedong.jpg|thumb|Adams' first opera, ''[[Nixon in China]]'', is about President Richard Nixon's 1972 [[Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to China|visit to China]].]]
In 1977, Adams wrote the half-hour-long solo piano piece ''[[Phrygian Gates]]'', which he later called "my first mature composition, my official 'opus one'",<ref>{{harvnb|Adams|2008|p=88}}</ref> as well as its much shorter companion piece, ''[[China Gates]]''. The next year, he finished ''[[Shaker Loops]]'', a string septet based on an earlier, unsuccessful [[string quartet]] called ''Wavemaker''.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/tomserviceblog/2012/sep/04/john-adams-contemporary-music-guide|title=A guide to John Adams's music|last=Service|first=Tom|author-link=Tom Service|date=September 4, 2012|work=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=October 15, 2019}}</ref> In 1979, he finished his first orchestral work, ''Common Tones in Simple Time'', which the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Orchestra premiered with Adams conducting.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Common Tones in Simple Time|url=https://www.earbox.com/common-tones-in-simple-time/|last=Adams|first=John|website=Earbox|date=September 23, 1979|access-date=May 26, 2020}}</ref>

In 1979, Adams became the [[San Francisco Symphony]]'s New Music Adviser and created the symphony's "New and Unusual Music" concerts.<ref>{{Cite web|title=John Adams|url=http://www.sfsymphony.org/|publisher=San Francisco Symphony|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080206181144/http://www.sfsymphony.org/|archive-date=February 6, 2008|access-date=May 26, 2020}}</ref> A commission from the symphony resulted in Adams's large, three-movement [[choral symphony]] ''[[Harmonium (Adams)|Harmonium]]'' (1980–81), setting texts by [[John Donne]] and [[Emily Dickinson]]. He followed this with the three-movement orchestral piece (without [[String section|strings]]) ''[[Grand Pianola Music]]'' (1982). That summer, he wrote the score for ''Matter of Heart'', a documentary about psychoanalyst [[Carl Jung]], a score he later derided as "of stunning mediocrity".<ref>{{harvnb|Adams|2008|p=120}}</ref> In the winter of 1982–83, Adams worked on the electronic score for ''Available Light'', a dance choreographed by [[Lucinda Childs]] with sets by architect [[Frank Gehry]]. Without dance, the electronic piece alone is called ''Light Over Water''.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Mackrell |first=Judith |date=July 7, 2017 |title=Available Light review – Lucinda Childs' minimalist movers weave through John Adams' music |work=[[The Guardian]] |url=http://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/feb/22/nixon-in-china-scottish-opera-review-theatre-royal-glasgow-john-adams |access-date=August 31, 2021 }}</ref>

After an 18-month period of [[writer's block]], Adams wrote his orchestral piece ''[[Harmonielehre]]'' (1984–85), which he called "a statement of belief in the power of [[tonality]] at a time when I was uncertain about its future".<ref>{{harvnb|Adams|2008|p=129}}</ref> Like many of Adams's pieces, it was inspired by a dream, in this case, one in which he was driving across the [[San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge]] and saw an oil tanker on the surface of the water abruptly turn upright and take off like a [[Saturn V]] rocket.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Harmonielehre|url=https://www.earbox.com/harmonielehre/|last=Adams|first=John|website=John Adams|date=September 23, 1998|access-date=May 30, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/tomserviceblog/2014/mar/11/symphony-guide-john-adams-harmonielehre-tom-service|title=Symphony guide: John Adams's Harmonielehre|last=Service|first=Tom|author-link=Tom Service|date=March 11, 2014|work=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=October 15, 2019}}</ref>

From 1985 to 1987, Adams composed his first [[opera]], ''[[Nixon in China]]'', with a [[libretto]] by [[Alice Goodman]], based on [[Richard Nixon]]'s 1972 [[Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to China|visit to China]]. The opera marked the first collaboration between Adams and [[theatre director]] [[Peter Sellars]], who had proposed it to Adams in 1983.<ref>{{Cite web|date=September 24, 2013|title=Adams ''Nixon in China''|url=http://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/adams-nixon-in-china-0|access-date=October 15, 2019|work=[[Gramophone (magazine)|Gramophone]]}}</ref> Adams worked with Sellars on all his operas until [[Antony_and_Cleopatra_(2022_opera)|''Antony and Cleopatra'']] (2022).<ref>{{Cite news |last=Swed |first=Mark |date=2022-09-16 |title=Review: In John Adams' new ''Antony and Cleopatra'' opera, the orchestra is the star |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2022-09-16/review-john-adams-antony-and-cleopatra-sf-opera |access-date=2022-11-20 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref>

During this time, Adams also wrote ''[[The Chairman Dances]]'' (1985), which he described as an "'out-take' of Act III of ''Nixon in China''", to fulfill a long-delayed commission for the [[Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra|Milwaukee Symphony]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Chairman Dances|url=https://www.earbox.com/the-chairman-dances/|last=Adams|first=John|website=John Adams|date=September 23, 2003|access-date=May 30, 2020}}</ref> He also wrote the short orchestral [[fanfare]] ''[[Short Ride in a Fast Machine]]'' (1986).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2012/03/27/149467564/thrilling-rides-in-dazzling-machines-the-san-francisco-symphony-plays-adams|title=The Best Classical Album of 2012?|last=Tsioulcas|first=Anastasia|date=March 27, 2012|publisher=NPR|access-date=October 15, 2019|archive-date=October 15, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191015185246/https://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2012/03/27/149467564/thrilling-rides-in-dazzling-machines-the-san-francisco-symphony-plays-adams|url-status=live}}</ref>[[File:PeterSellarsOjai.jpg|thumb|upright|Adams has collaborated with theater director [[Peter Sellars]] on all of his operas.|alt=|left]]

===1988 to ''Doctor Atomic''===
Adams wrote two orchestral pieces in 1988: ''Fearful Symmetries'', a 25-minute work in the same style as ''Nixon in China'', and ''[[The Wound-Dresser]]'', a setting of [[Walt Whitman]]'s 1865 poem of that title, written when Whitman was volunteering at a military hospital during the [[American Civil War]]. ''The Wound-Dresser'' is scored for baritone voice, two flutes (or two piccolos), two oboes, clarinet, bass clarinet, two bassoons, two horns, trumpet (or piccolo trumpet), timpani, synthesizer, and strings.

During this time, Adams established an international career as a conductor. From 1988 to 1990, he served as conductor and music advisor for the [[Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra]].{{sfn|Cahill|2001|loc="1. Life"}} He has also served as artistic director and conductor of the [[Ojai Music Festival|Ojai]] and [[Cabrillo Music Festival]]s in California.{{sfn|Cahill|2001|loc="1. Life"}} He has conducted orchestras around the world, including the [[New York Philharmonic]], the [[Chicago Symphony Orchestra|Chicago Symphony]], the [[Cleveland Orchestra]], the [[Los Angeles Philharmonic]], the [[London Symphony Orchestra]], and the [[Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra]],{{sfn|Cahill|2001|loc="1. Life"}} performing pieces by [[Claude Debussy|Debussy]], [[Aaron Copland|Copland]], [[Igor Stravinsky|Stravinsky]], [[Joseph Haydn|Haydn]], [[Steve Reich|Reich]], [[Frank Zappa|Zappa]], [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]], and himself.<ref>{{harvnb|Adams|2008|p=178}}</ref>

Adams completed his second opera, ''[[The Death of Klinghoffer]]'', in 1991, again working with Goodman and Sellars. It is based on the [[Achille Lauro hijacking|1985 hijacking of the Italian cruise ship ''Achille Lauro'']] by Palestinian terrorists and details the murder of passenger [[Leon Klinghoffer]], a retired, physically disabled Jewish American. The opera has generated controversy, including allegations that it is [[antisemitic]] and glorifies terrorism.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Cooper|first=Michael|date=October 20, 2014|title=Protests Greet Metropolitan Opera's Premiere of ''Klinghoffer''|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/21/arts/music/metropolitan-opera-forges-ahead-on-klinghoffer-in-spite-of-protests.html|access-date=October 15, 2019|archive-date=February 11, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200211234340/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/21/arts/music/metropolitan-opera-forges-ahead-on-klinghoffer-in-spite-of-protests.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Adams's next piece, ''[[Chamber Symphony (Adams)|Chamber Symphony]]'' (1992), is for a 15-member [[chamber orchestra]]. In three movements, the work is inspired by an unlikely combination of sources: [[Arnold Schoenberg]]'s [[Chamber Symphony No. 1|Chamber Symphony No. 1, Op. 9]] (which Adams was studying at the time) and the "hyperactive, insistently aggressive and acrobatic" music of the cartoons his young son was watching.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Adams|first=John|date=June 1994|title=Chamber Symphony|url=https://www.earbox.com/chamber-symphony/|access-date=June 7, 2020|website=Earbox|archive-date=June 7, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200607021545/https://www.earbox.com/chamber-symphony/|url-status=live}}</ref>

The next year, he wrote his [[Violin Concerto (Adams)|Violin Concerto]] for American violinist [[Jorja Fleezanis]]. Lasting a little more than half an hour, it is also in three movements: a "long extended rhapsody for the violin" is followed by a slow [[chaconne]] (titled "Body through which the dream flows", a phrase from a poem by [[Robert Hass]]), and then an energetic [[Toccata|toccare]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Adams|first=John|title=Violin Concerto, Leila Josefowicz|url=https://www.earbox.com/john-adams-violin-concerto-leila-josefowicz-david-robertson-st-louis-symphony-orchestra/|access-date=July 14, 2020|website=Earbox|date=July 26, 2018|archive-date=July 14, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200714033647/https://www.earbox.com/john-adams-violin-concerto-leila-josefowicz-david-robertson-st-louis-symphony-orchestra/|url-status=live}}</ref> Adams received the [[Grawemeyer Award (Music Composition)|Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition]] for the concerto.<ref name="Grawemeyer">{{cite web|date=July 20, 1995|title=1995 – John Adams|url=http://grawemeyer.org/1995-john-adams/|access-date=July 13, 2020|website=Grawemeyer Awards|archive-date=July 14, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200714024903/http://grawemeyer.org/1995-john-adams/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1995, he completed ''[[I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky]]'', a stage piece with libretto by poet [[June Jordan]] and staging by Sellars. Inspired by musicals, Adams called the piece a "songplay in two acts".<ref>{{Cite web|last=Adams|first=John|title=I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky|url=https://www.earbox.com/i-was-looking-at-the-ceiling-and-then-i-saw-the-sky/|access-date=June 30, 2020|website=Earbox|date=September 23, 1995|archive-date=June 30, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200630201944/https://www.earbox.com/i-was-looking-at-the-ceiling-and-then-i-saw-the-sky/|url-status=live}}</ref> The main characters are seven young Americans from different social and ethnic backgrounds, all living in [[Los Angeles]], with stories that take place around the [[1994 Northridge earthquake]].

''[[Hallelujah Junction]]'' (1996) is a three-movement composition for two pianos that employs variations of a repeated two-note rhythm. The [[interval (music)|interval]]s between the notes remain the same for much of the piece. Adams used the same phrase for the title of his 2008 memoir.

Written to celebrate the millennium, ''[[El Niño (opera)|El Niño]]'' (2000) is an "[[oratorio]] about birth in general and about the [[Nativity of Jesus|Nativity]] in specific".<ref>{{harvnb|Adams|2008|p=240}}</ref> The piece incorporates a wide range of texts, including biblical texts as well as poems by Hispanic poets like [[Rosario Castellanos]], [[Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz]], [[Gabriela Mistral]], [[Vicente Huidobro]], and [[Rubén Darío]],

After the [[September 11, 2001 attacks|September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks]], the [[New York Philharmonic]] commissioned Adams to write a memorial piece for the victims. The result, ''[[On the Transmigration of Souls]]'', was premiered around the first anniversary of the attacks. ''On the Transmigration of Souls'' is for [[orchestra]], [[Choir|chorus]], and [[children's choir]], accompanied by taped readings of the names of the victims mixed with the sounds of the city.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Adams|first=John|title=On the Transmigration of Souls|url=https://www.earbox.com/on-the-transmigration-of-souls/|access-date=July 9, 2020|website=Earbox|date=September 23, 2002|archive-date=July 19, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200719000620/https://www.earbox.com/on-the-transmigration-of-souls/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Huizenga|first=Tom|date=September 10, 2011|title=John Adams' Memory Space: 'On The Transmigration Of Souls'|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2011/09/10/140341459/john-adams-memory-space-on-the-transmigration-of-souls|access-date=October 15, 2019|publisher=NPR|archive-date=September 13, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200913123913/https://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2011/09/10/140341459/john-adams-memory-space-on-the-transmigration-of-souls|url-status=live}}</ref> It won the 2003 [[Pulitzer Prize for Music]]<ref name="pulitzer">{{cite web|title=Prize winners: Music|url=https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-category/225|access-date=September 22, 2014|publisher=[[Pulitzer.org]]|archive-date=March 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308064037/https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-category/225|url-status=live}}</ref> and the 2005 [[Grammy Award]] for [[Best Contemporary Composition]].

Commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Adams|first=John|author-link=John Adams (composer)|year=2003|title=My Father Knew Charles Ives|url=http://www.boosey.com/cr/music/John-Adams-My-Father-Knew-Charles-Ives/26340|access-date=July 31, 2016|website=[[Boosey & Hawkes]]|archive-date=August 27, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160827210657/http://www.boosey.com/cr/music/John-Adams-My-Father-Knew-Charles-Ives/26340|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Kosman|first=Joshua|date=May 2, 2003|title=Symphony premieres Adams' splendid 'Ives' / A funny and touching musical memoir|url=http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Symphony-premieres-Adams-splendid-Ives-A-2619047.php|access-date=July 31, 2016|work=[[San Francisco Chronicle]]}}</ref> Adams's orchestral piece ''[[My Father Knew Charles Ives]]'' (2003) has three movements: "Concord", "The Lake", and "The Mountain". Though his father did not actually know American composer [[Charles Ives]], Adams saw many similarities between the two men's lives and between their lives and his own, including their love of small-town New England life and their unfulfilled musical dreams.
[[File:JROppenheimer-LosAlamos.jpg|thumb|upright|Adams' third opera, ''[[Doctor Atomic]]'', is about [[J. Robert Oppenheimer]] (shown above, in 1944) and the development of the atomic bomb in 1945.]]

Written for the [[Los Angeles Philharmonic]] to celebrate the opening of [[Walt Disney Concert Hall|Disney Hall]] in 2003, ''[[The Dharma at Big Sur]]'' (2003) is a two-movement work for solo electric six-string violin and orchestra. Adams wrote that with ''Dharma'', he "wanted to compose a piece that embodied the feeling of being on the West Coast – literally standing on a precipice overlooking the geographic shelf with the ocean extending far out to the horizon".<ref>{{harvnb|Adams|2008|pp=233–234}}</ref> Inspired by the music of [[Lou Harrison]],<ref>{{harvnb|Adams|2008|pp=234–235}}</ref> the piece calls for some instruments (harp, piano, samplers) to use [[just intonation]], a [[tuning system]] in which intervals sound pure, rather than [[equal temperament]], the common Western tuning system in which all intervals except the octave are impure.

Adams's third opera, ''[[Doctor Atomic]]'' (2005), is about physicist [[J. Robert Oppenheimer]], the [[Manhattan Project]], and the creation and testing of the first atomic bomb. The work premiered at the San Francisco Opera in October 2005.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Martinez |first=Andrew |date=2019 |title=Dr. Atomic by John Adams and Peter Sellars (review) |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/746770 |journal=Theatre Journal |volume=71 |issue=4 |pages=495–496 |doi=10.1353/tj.2019.0098 |s2cid=214198177 |issn=1086-332X|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Its libretto, by Sellars, draws on original source material, including personal memoirs, recorded interviews, technical manuals of nuclear physics, declassified government documents, and the poetry of the ''[[Bhagavad Gita]]'', [[John Donne]], [[Charles Baudelaire]], and [[Muriel Rukeyser]]. It takes place in June and July 1945, mainly over the last few hours before the first atomic bomb explodes at the test site in New Mexico. Characters include Oppenheimer and his wife [[Kitty Oppenheimer|Kitty]], [[Edward Teller]], General [[Leslie Groves]], and [[Robert R. Wilson|Robert Wilson]]. Two years later, Adams extracted music from the opera to create the ''[[Doctor Atomic#Doctor Atomic Symphony|Doctor Atomic Symphony]]''.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Cooper|first=Michael|date=July 6, 2018|title=Bringing ''Doctor Atomic'' to the Birthplace of the Bomb|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/06/arts/music/dr-atomic-santa-fe-john-adams-peter-sellars.html|access-date=October 15, 2019}}</ref>

In 2018, [[Santa Fe Opera|The Santa Fe Opera]] performed ''Doctor Atomic'' in its summer season. The production took place in Santa Fe, 33 miles away from the [[Project Y|Los Alamos Laboratory]], the Manhattan Project's research and development facility. This proximity forged a deeper connection between the production and the people of Los Alamos, fostering a new relationship with the pueblo communities. According to Andrew Martinez, this association "became an opportunity to confront the histories and present-day experiences of pain and suffering that New Mexico citizens have endured since that rainy summer night in July 1945 when the first atomic bomb was detonated".<ref name=":0" /> The production also featured a 2,400-pound silver orb hanging from the ceiling, representing the bomb. This single set piece stood on an otherwise empty stage, set against the backdrop of the [[Sangre de Cristo Mountains]].<ref name=":0" />

=== After ''Doctor Atomic'' ===
Adams's next opera, ''[[A Flowering Tree]]'' (2006), with a libretto by Adams and Sellars, is based on a folktale from the [[Kannada language]] of southern India translated by [[A. K. Ramanujan]] about a young girl who discovers she has the magic ability to transform into a flowering tree. The opera was commissioned as part of the Vienna New Crowned Hope Festival to celebrate the 250th anniversary of [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]]'s birth, and has many parallels with Mozart's ''[[The Magic Flute]]'', including its themes of "magic, transformation and the dawning of moral awareness".<ref>{{Cite web|last=Adams|first=John|title=A Flowering Tree|url=https://www.earbox.com/a-flowering-tree/|access-date=July 19, 2020|website=Earbox|date=September 23, 1982}}</ref>

Adams wrote three pieces for the [[St. Lawrence String Quartet]]: his First Quartet (2008), his concerto for [[string quartet]] and orchestra, ''[[Absolute Jest]]'' (2012), and his Second Quartet (2014). Both ''Absolute Jest'' and the Second Quartet are based on fragments from [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]], with ''Absolute Jest'' using music from his [[Late string quartets (Beethoven)|late quartets]] (specifically [[String Quartet No. 14 (Beethoven)|Opus 131]], [[String Quartet No. 16 (Beethoven)|Opus 135]] and the ''[[Grosse Fuge|Große Fuge]]'') and the Second Quartet drawing from Beethoven's [[Piano Sonata No. 31 (Beethoven)|Opus 110]] and [[Piano Sonata No. 32 (Beethoven)|111]] [[Piano sonatas (Beethoven)|piano sonatas]].

From 2011 to 2013, Adams wrote his two-act [[Passion (music)|Passion]] oratorio, ''[[The Gospel According to the Other Mary]]'', a decade after his Nativity oratorio, ''El Niño''. The work focuses on the final few weeks of the life of [[Jesus]] from the point of view of "the other Mary", [[Mary of Bethany]] (sometimes misidentified as [[Mary Magdalene]]), her sister [[Martha]], and her brother, [[Lazarus of Bethany|Lazarus]].<ref>Woolfe, Zachary (June 1, 2012). [https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/02/arts/music/the-gospel-according-to-the-other-mary-by-john-adams.html "Composer's New Passion Unspooled"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200719044117/https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/02/arts/music/the-gospel-according-to-the-other-mary-by-john-adams.html |date=July 19, 2020 }}. ''[[The New York Times]].''</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Adams|first=John|title=The Gospel According to the Other Mary|url=http://www.boosey.com/pages/opera/moredetails.asp?musicid=51759|access-date=September 4, 2020|website=[[Boosey & Hawkes]]|archive-date=September 23, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923223906/http://www.boosey.com/pages/opera/moredetails.asp?musicid=51759|url-status=live}}</ref> Sellars's libretto draws from the [[Bible]] and from [[Rosario Castellanos]], [[Rubén Darío]], [[Dorothy Day]], [[Louise Erdrich]], [[Hildegard von Bingen]], [[June Jordan]], and [[Primo Levi]].

''[[Scheherazade.2]]'' (2014) is a four-movement "dramatic symphony"<ref>{{Cite web|last=Adams|first=John|title=Scheherazade.2|url=https://www.earbox.com/scheherazade2/|access-date=July 19, 2020|website=Earbox|date=September 14, 2015}}</ref> for violin and orchestra. Written for violinist [[Leila Josefowicz]], who frequently performed Adams's Violin Concerto and ''The Dharma at Big Sur'', the work was inspired by the character [[Scheherazade]] (from ''[[One Thousand and One Nights]]'') who, after being forced into marriage, recounts tales to her husband in order to delay her death. Adams associated modern examples of suffering and injustice toward women, with acts in [[Tahrir Square]] during the [[Egyptian revolution of 2011]], [[Kabul]], and comments from ''[[The Rush Limbaugh Show]]''.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/28/arts/music/review-john-adams-unveils-scheherazade2-an-answer-to-male-brutality.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220103/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/28/arts/music/review-john-adams-unveils-scheherazade2-an-answer-to-male-brutality.html |archive-date=January 3, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Review: John Adams Unveils ''Scheherazade.2'', an Answer to Male Brutality|author=Anthony Tommasini|newspaper=The New York Times |author-link=Anthony Tommasini|date=March 27, 2015|access-date=April 4, 2015}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.sfcv.org/reviews/2015/03/27/Violinist-Josefowicz-Shines-in-a-Modern-lt-em-gt-Scheherazade-lt-/em-gt |title=Violinist Josefowicz Shines in a Modern ''Scheherazade'' |author=Zoe Madonna |date=March 27, 2015 |access-date=April 4, 2015 |archive-date=April 11, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150411001440/https://www.sfcv.org/reviews/2015/03/27/Violinist-Josefowicz-Shines-in-a-Modern-lt-em-gt-Scheherazade-lt-/em-gt |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/416078/sick-and-twisted-culture-jay-nordlinger |title=A Sick and Twisted Culture |author=Jay Nordlinger |website=[[National Review]] |date=March 26, 2015 |access-date=April 4, 2015 |archive-date=April 7, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150407151746/http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/416078/sick-and-twisted-culture-jay-nordlinger |url-status=live }}</ref>

Adams's seventh opera, ''[[Girls of the Golden West (opera)|Girls of the Golden West]]'' (2017), with a libretto by Sellars based on historical sources, is set in mining camps during the [[California Gold Rush]] of the 1850s. Sellars described the opera this way: "These true stories of the Forty-Niners are overwhelming in their heroism, passion and cruelty, telling tales of racial conflicts, colorful and humorous exploits, political strife and struggles to build anew a life and to decide what it would mean to be American."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Cooper|first=Michael|date=June 14, 2016|title=John Adams and Peter Sellars Again Joining Forces for New Opera|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/15/arts/music/john-adams-and-peter-sellars-again-joining-forces-for-new-opera.html|access-date=July 19, 2020|archive-date=July 19, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200719014310/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/15/arts/music/john-adams-and-peter-sellars-again-joining-forces-for-new-opera.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2022, Adams completed his eighth opera, ''[[Antony and Cleopatra (Adams)|Antony and Cleopatra]]'', based on [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]]'s [[Antony and Cleopatra|play of the same name]].

On June 14, 2023, the Library of Congress announced that it was acquiring Adams's manuscripts and papers for its Music Division, which also includes the papers of Bernstein, Copland, [[George gershwin|George]] and [[Ira Gershwin]], [[Martha Graham]], [[Charles Mingus]], and [[Neil Simon]], among others.<ref>{{Cite press release|date=June 14, 2023|title=Library of Congress Acquires Music Manuscripts and Papers of Composer John Adams|url= https://newsroom.loc.gov/news/library-of-congress-acquires-music-manuscripts-and-papers-of-composer-john-adams/s/0b2a269b-bf0f-4a7d-bde6-216f782023fa}}</ref>

=== Personal life ===
Adams was married to Hawley Currens, a music teacher, from 1970 to 1974.{{sfn|Sanchez-Behar|2020|p={{page needed|date=December 2020}}}} He is married to photographer Deborah O'Grady, with whom he has a daughter, Emily, and a son, the composer [[Samuel Carl Adams]].<ref name=":8" /><ref>{{cite web|last=Tommasini|first=Anthony|author-link=Anthony Tommasini|date=September 30, 2012|title=SF Symphony Plays Mahler and Samuel Carl Adams|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/01/arts/music/san-francisco-symphony-plays-mahler-and-samuel-carl-adams.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220103/https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/01/arts/music/san-francisco-symphony-plays-mahler-and-samuel-carl-adams.html |archive-date=January 3, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=October 1, 2010|work=[[The New York Times]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref>