John Adams

Abstract

Abstract John Adams grew up in Vermont and New Hampshire. As a student at Harvard University he was active as a conductor, clarinetist, and composer. His composition teachers included Leon Kirchner, David Del Tredici, and Roger Sessions. In 1971Adams left the East Coast to establish his professional career in the San Francisco area, teaching at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and serving as new music adviser and composer-in-residence for the San Francisco Symphony. His output spans a wide range of media: orchestra, opera, video, film, and dance, as well as electronic and chamber music. Such pieces as Harmonium and Harmonielehre (written for the San Francisco Symphony) and The Chairman Dances (from his opera Nixon in China, commissioned by the Houston Grand Opera) are among the most frequently performed contemporary American works. In 1995, he received the Grawemeyer Award for his violin Concerto, commissioned by the Minnesota Orchestra. Although he is often termed a “minimalist;’ Adams feels that his music can’t be so exactly defined.