Subscription Concert No.1044 B Series
Venue: Suntory Hall Venue Info Seat
John ADAMS, Conductor
New National Theatre Chorus, Chorus*
John ADAMS (Composer/Conductor)
Composer, conductor, and creative thinker – John Adams occupies a unique position in the world of music. His works stand out among contemporary classical compositions for their depth of expression, brilliance of sound, and the profoundly humanist nature of their themes; his stage compositions, many in collaboration with director Peter Sellars, have transformed the genre of contemporary music theatre. Spanning more than three decades, works such as Harmonielehre, Shaker Loops, El Niño and Nixon in China are among the most performed of all contemporary classical music.
As a conductor Adams has led the world’s major orchestras, programming his own works with a wide variety of repertoire ranging from Beethoven, Mozart and Debussy to Sibelius, Ives, Carter, and Ellington. Among his honorary doctorates are those from Yale, Harvard, Northwestern and Cambridge universities and from The Juilliard School. A provocative writer, he is author of the highly acclaimed autobiography Hallelujah Junction and is a frequent contributor to The New York Times Book Review. Since 2009 Adams has been Creative Chair of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Born and raised in New England, Adams learned the clarinet from his father and played in marching bands and community orchestras during his formative years. He began composing age ten and his first orchestral pieces were performed while he was still a teenager. In 2017 Adams celebrated his 70th birthday with festivals of his music in Europe and the US, including special retrospectives at London’s Barbican, Cité de la Musique in Paris, and in Amsterdam, New York and Geneva, among other cities. In 2019 he was the recipient of both Spain’s BBVA ‘“Frontiers of Knowledge’ ” award and Holland’s Erasmus Prize “for notable contributions to European culture, society and social science”, and in 2021 he was appointed ‘“Honorary Academician’” by the prestigious General Assembly of the Academicians of Santa Cecilia, also receiving the ‘“Glashütte Original MusicFestivalAward’” from the Dresden Music Festival in recognition of his lifetime achievement. Adams is currently at work on his fifth opera.
Conducting engagements in 2021/22 include return visits to The Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Seattle and St Louis symphony orchestras. In Europe Adams will appear with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra – reuniting with Icelandic pianist Vikingur Ólafsson for performances of Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes? – as well as the Rotterdam Philharmonic and Lahti Symphony orchestras. Music Director of the Ojai Music Festival in 2021, its 75th anniversary year, he also takes part in the 2022 Colorado Music and Cincinnati May festivals.
Recent conducting highlights include performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic (world premiere of Philip Glass’ Symphony No.12 ‘“Lodger’”), The Philadelphia Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. With the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France Adams gave the European premiere of Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes? together with Ólafsson in February 2020, and in 2018 he conducted the Orchestra e Coro dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia for the first time in performances of The Gospel According to the Other Mary.
Recent recordings include Grammy-nominated albums Doctor Atomic (featuring the BBC Symphony Orchestra and BBC Singers conducted by Adams, with Gerald Finley and Julia Bullock) and Scheherazade.2, a dramatic symphony for violin and orchestra written for Leila Josefowicz, as well as Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes? (written for and performed by Yuja Wang, together the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel) and the Berliner Philharmoniker’s ‘“John Adams Edition’”, a box set comprising seven of his works, conducted by Rattle, Dudamel, Petrenko, Gilbert and Adams.
As a conductor Adams has led the world’s major orchestras, programming his own works with a wide variety of repertoire ranging from Beethoven, Mozart and Debussy to Sibelius, Ives, Carter, and Ellington. Among his honorary doctorates are those from Yale, Harvard, Northwestern and Cambridge universities and from The Juilliard School. A provocative writer, he is author of the highly acclaimed autobiography Hallelujah Junction and is a frequent contributor to The New York Times Book Review. Since 2009 Adams has been Creative Chair of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Born and raised in New England, Adams learned the clarinet from his father and played in marching bands and community orchestras during his formative years. He began composing age ten and his first orchestral pieces were performed while he was still a teenager. In 2017 Adams celebrated his 70th birthday with festivals of his music in Europe and the US, including special retrospectives at London’s Barbican, Cité de la Musique in Paris, and in Amsterdam, New York and Geneva, among other cities. In 2019 he was the recipient of both Spain’s BBVA ‘“Frontiers of Knowledge’ ” award and Holland’s Erasmus Prize “for notable contributions to European culture, society and social science”, and in 2021 he was appointed ‘“Honorary Academician’” by the prestigious General Assembly of the Academicians of Santa Cecilia, also receiving the ‘“Glashütte Original MusicFestivalAward’” from the Dresden Music Festival in recognition of his lifetime achievement. Adams is currently at work on his fifth opera.
Conducting engagements in 2021/22 include return visits to The Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Seattle and St Louis symphony orchestras. In Europe Adams will appear with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra – reuniting with Icelandic pianist Vikingur Ólafsson for performances of Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes? – as well as the Rotterdam Philharmonic and Lahti Symphony orchestras. Music Director of the Ojai Music Festival in 2021, its 75th anniversary year, he also takes part in the 2022 Colorado Music and Cincinnati May festivals.
Recent conducting highlights include performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic (world premiere of Philip Glass’ Symphony No.12 ‘“Lodger’”), The Philadelphia Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. With the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France Adams gave the European premiere of Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes? together with Ólafsson in February 2020, and in 2018 he conducted the Orchestra e Coro dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia for the first time in performances of The Gospel According to the Other Mary.
Recent recordings include Grammy-nominated albums Doctor Atomic (featuring the BBC Symphony Orchestra and BBC Singers conducted by Adams, with Gerald Finley and Julia Bullock) and Scheherazade.2, a dramatic symphony for violin and orchestra written for Leila Josefowicz, as well as Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes? (written for and performed by Yuja Wang, together the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel) and the Berliner Philharmoniker’s ‘“John Adams Edition’”, a box set comprising seven of his works, conducted by Rattle, Dudamel, Petrenko, Gilbert and Adams.
New National Theatre Chorus (Chorus)
New National Theatre, Tokyo, opened in October 1997 as the only national theatre for the modern performing arts of opera, ballet, contemporary dance, and play. Meanwhile, New National Theatre Chorus started its career and has played a central role in many opera performances all through the seasons. Their ensemble ability and rich voices have achieved acclaim from co-starred singers, conductors, directors, stage staffs as well as domestic and foreign media.
