Editing John Adams (composer) (section)

=== 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>