Carnegie Hall

American composer John Adams (b. 1947) has been a vital presence on the music scene since the early 1970s, and his works include some of the most-performed contemporary classical pieces today. His Violin Concerto won the prestigious Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, and On the Transmigration of Souls—commissioned by the New York Philharmonic to commemorate the first anniversary of 9/11—received the Pulitzer Prize in Music. His stage works—which include Nixon in China, The Death of Klinghoffer, El Niño, Doctor Atomic, A Flowering Tree, and Girls of the Golden West, as well as the Passion oratorio The Gospel According to the Other Mary—are performed both nationally and internationally.

Adams’s long association with Carnegie Hall continues to evolve. He first appeared at the Hall on April 1, 1969—while still an undergraduate at Harvard—as soloist in the New York premiere of Walter Piston’s Clarinet Concerto. He returned 20 years later, on November 6, 1989—by then an established and respected composer—to conduct the Orchestra of St. Luke’s in a program that included his own Fearful Symmetries as well as works by Copland, Wuorinen, and Gershwin. Adams has also conducted the American Composers Orchestra and Juilliard Orchestra at the Hall, and led Ensemble ACJW (which has since been renamed Ensemble Connect) in Zankel Hall. From 2003 to 2007, Adams served as the Hall’s Richard and Barbara Debs Composer’s Chair; during his residency, he established an annual festival titled In Your Ear and, in September 2003, conducted the Zankel Band at Zankel Hall’s Opening Festival.

Since 1984, 15 works by Adams have received important premieres at Carnegie Hall:

• Harmonium (New York Premiere) with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin: March 30, 1984
• The Chairman Dances (New York Premiere) with the American Composers Orchestra conducted by Dennis Russell Davies: January 11, 1987
• Tromba lontana (New York Premiere) with the American Symphony Orchestra conducted by Catherine Comet: December 13, 1987
• El Dorado (New York Premiere) with the American Composers Orchestra conducted by Kent Nagano: December 5, 1993
• Lollapalooza (New York Premiere) with the San Francisco Symphony conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas: November 6, 1996
• Century Rolls (New York Premiere) with pianist Emanuel Ax and The Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Christoph von Dohnányi: April 28, 2000
• American Berserk (World Premiere, commissioned by Carnegie Hall) with pianist Garrick Ohlsson: February 25, 2002
• Guide to Strange Places (New York Premiere) with the National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin: February 28, 2004
• My Father Knew Charles Ives (New York Premiere) with the San Francisco Symphony conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas: March 23, 2004
• Doctor Atomic Symphony (New York Premiere) with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra conducted by David Robertson: February 16, 2008
• Fellow Traveler (World Premiere) in Zankel Hall with Kronos Quartet: February 22, 2008
• Son of Chamber Symphony (New York Premiere) in Zankel Hall with Alarm Will Sound conducted by Alan Pierson: February 28, 2008
• Absolute Jest (New York Premiere, co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall) with the San Francisco Symphony conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas: March 27, 2012
• Second Quartet (New York Premiere) in Zankel Hall with the St. Lawrence String Quartet: October 29, 2015