View source for John Adams (composer)

{{short description|American composer (born 1947)}}
{{For|other composers named John Adams|John Adams (disambiguation)#Music}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name          = John Adams
| image         = JA-portrait-1-LW.jpg
| caption       = Adams, sometime before 2008
| birth_date    = {{birth date and age|1947|02|15}}
| birth_place   = [[Worcester, Massachusetts]], U.S.
| education     = [[Harvard University]]
| spouse       = Deborah O'Grady
| occupation    = {{hlist|Composer|conductor}}
| notable_works = [[#List of works|List of compositions]]
| website       = {{URL|earbox.com/}}
| awards        = {{plainlist|
* [[Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition]] (1995)
* [[Pulitzer Prize for Music]] (2003)
* [[Erasmus Prize]] (2019)
}}
}}
'''John Coolidge Adams''' (born February 15, 1947) is an American composer and conductor. Among the most regularly performed composers of [[contemporary classical music]], he is particularly noted for his [[opera]]s, many of which center around historical events.{{sfn|Cahill|2001|loc="Introduction"}}{{sfn|''Britannica''|2021|loc="Introduction"}} Apart from opera, [[#List of works|his oeuvre]] includes orchestral, [[concerto|concertante]], vocal, choral, [[chamber music|chamber]], [[electroacoustic music|electroacoustic]], and piano music.

Born in [[Worcester, Massachusetts]], Adams grew up in a musical family and was exposed to [[classical music]], [[jazz]], [[musical theatre]], and [[rock music]]. He attended [[Harvard University]], studying with [[Leon Kirchner]], [[Roger Sessions]], and [[David Del Tredici]], among others. His earliest work was aligned with [[Modernism (music)|modernist music]], but he began to disagree with its tenets upon reading [[John Cage]]'s ''[[Silence: Lectures and Writings]]''. Teaching at the [[San Francisco Conservatory of Music]], Adams developed a minimalist aesthetic first fully realized in ''[[Phrygian Gates]]'' (1977) and later in the string septet ''[[Shaker Loops]]''. Adams became increasingly active in [[San Francisco]]'s contemporary music scene, and his orchestral works ''[[Harmonium (Adams)|Harmonium]]'' (1980–1981) and ''[[Harmonielehre]]'' (1985) first gained him national attention.{{sfn|Cahill|2001|loc="1. Life"}} Other popular works from this time include the [[fanfare]] ''[[Short Ride in a Fast Machine]]'' (1986) and the orchestral work ''El Dorado'' (1991).{{sfn|''Britannica''|2021|loc="Ensembles, chamber music, and orchestral works"}}

Adams's first opera was ''[[Nixon in China]]'' (1987), which recounts [[Richard Nixon]]'s [[Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to China|1972 visit to China]] and was the first of many collaborations with theatre director [[Peter Sellars]]. Though the work's reception was initially mixed, it has become increasingly respected since its premiere, receiving performances worldwide. Begun soon after ''Nixon in China'', the opera ''[[The Death of Klinghoffer]]'' (1991) was based on the [[Palestinian Liberation Front]]'s [[Achille Lauro hijacking|1985 hijacking and murder]] of [[Leon Klinghoffer]] and incited considerable controversy for its subject matter. His next notable works include a [[Chamber Symphony (Adams)|Chamber Symphony]] (1992), a [[Violin Concerto (Adams)|Violin Concerto]] (1993), the opera-[[oratorio]] ''[[El Niño (opera)|El Niño]]'' (2000), the orchestral piece ''[[My Father Knew Charles Ives]]'' (2003), and the six-string [[electric violin]] concerto ''[[The Dharma at Big Sur]]'' (2003). Adams won a [[Pulitzer Prize for Music]] for ''[[On the Transmigration of Souls]]'' (2002), a piece for orchestra and chorus commemorating the victims of the [[September 11 attacks|September 11, 2001 attacks]]. Continuing with historical subjects, Adams wrote the opera ''[[Doctor Atomic]]'' (2005), based on [[J. Robert Oppenheimer]], the [[Manhattan Project]], and the building of the first [[atomic bomb]]. Later operas include ''[[A Flowering Tree]]'' (2006), ''[[Girls of the Golden West (opera)|Girls of the Golden West]]'' (2017), and ''[[Antony and Cleopatra (2022 opera)|Antony and Cleopatra]]'' (2022).

In many ways, Adams's music is developed from the minimalist tradition of [[Steve Reich]] and [[Philip Glass]], but he tends to more readily engage in the immense orchestral textures and climaxes of late [[Romantic music|Romanticism]] in the vein of [[Wagner]] and [[Mahler]]. His style is to a considerable extent a reaction against the modernism and [[serialism]] of the [[Second Viennese School|Second Viennese]] and [[Darmstadt School]]s. In addition to the Pulitzer, Adams has received the [[Erasmus Prize]], a [[Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition|Grawemeyer Award]], five [[Grammy Award]]s, the [[Harvard Arts Medal]], France's [[Ordre des Arts et des Lettres]], and six honorary doctorates.

==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>

==Musical style==
[[File:Phrygian Gates, mm 21-40.JPG|thumb|upright=1.3|John Adams, ''Phrygian Gates'', {{Abbr|mm|measures}} 21–40 (1977), demonstrates the repetitive approach that is a mainstay of the minimalist tradition]]
Adams's music is usually categorized as [[minimalist]] or [[post-minimalist]], although in an interview he said that his music is part of the "post-style" era at the end of the 20th century.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Fink|first=Robert|title=The Cambridge History of Twentieth-Century Music|date=2004|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-66256-7|editor-last=Cook|editor-first=Nicholas|editor-link=Nicholas Cook|location=Cambridge|pages=539|oclc=52381088|editor-last2=Pople|editor-first2=Anthony}}</ref> He employs minimalist techniques, such as repeating patterns, but is not a strict follower of the movement. Adams adopted much of the minimalist technique of [[Steve Reich]] and [[Philip Glass]], but his work synthesizes this with the orchestral textures of [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]], [[Mahler]], and [[Sibelius]].{{sfn|Ross|2007|pp=584}} Comparing ''Shaker Loops'' to the minimalist composer [[Terry Riley]]'s piece ''[[In C]]'', Adams remarked:

{{blockquote|rather than set up small engines of motivic materials and let them run free in a kind of random play of counterpoint, I used the fabric of continually repeating cells to forge large architectonic shapes, creating a web of activity that, even within the course of a single movement, was more detailed, more varied, and knew both light and dark, serenity and turbulence.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.earbox.com/W-harmonium.html |title=John Adams on Harmonium |publisher=Earbox.xom |access-date=September 22, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130117202009/http://www.earbox.com/W-harmonium.html |archive-date=January 17, 2013 }}</ref>|author=|title=|source=}}

Many of Adams's ideas are a reaction to the philosophy of [[serialism]] and its depictions of "the composer as scientist".{{sfn|May|2006|pp=7–10}} The [[Darmstadt School]] of [[Twelve-tone technique|twelve-tone]] composition was dominant while Adams was in college, and he compared class to a "mausoleum where we would sit and count tone-rows in [[Anton Webern|Webern]]".{{sfn|Broyles|2004|pp=169–170}}

Adams experienced a musical epiphany after reading [[John Cage]]'s 1961 book ''Silence'', which he said "dropped into my psyche like a time bomb",{{sfn|Schwarz|2008|p=175}} causing him to drop out of academia, "pack his belongings into a VW Bug, and drive to California".<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Ross |first=Alex |date=September 27, 2010 |title=John Cage's Art of Noise |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/10/04/searching-for-silence |access-date=June 6, 2024 |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US |issn=0028-792X}}</ref> Cage posed fundamental questions about what music was, and regarded all types of sounds as viable sources of music. This perspective offered Adams a liberating alternative to serialism's rule-based techniques. But Adams found Cage's music equally restricting.<ref name=":7"/> He began to experiment with electronic music, and his experiences are reflected in the writing of ''Phrygian Gates'' (1977–78), in which the constant shifting between modules in [[Lydian mode]] and [[Phrygian mode]] refers to activating [[electronic gate]]s rather than architectural ones. Adams explained that working with synthesizers caused a "diatonic conversion", a reversion to the belief that tonality was a force of nature.{{sfn|Schwartz|Godfrey|1993|p=336}}

Some of Adams's compositions amalgamate different styles. ''Grand Pianola Music'' (1981–82) is a humorous piece that purposely draws its content from musical cliches. In ''The Dharma at Big Sur,'' Adams draws from literary texts such as [[Jack Kerouac]], [[Gary Snyder]], and [[Henry Miller]] to illustrate the California landscape. He has professed his love of genres other than classical music; his parents were jazz musicians, and he has also listened to rock music, albeit only passively. Adams once claimed that originality was not an urgent concern for him the way it was for minimalists, and compared his position to that of [[Gustav Mahler]], [[Johann Sebastian Bach|J. S. Bach]], and [[Johannes Brahms]], who "were standing at the end of an era and were embracing all of the evolutions that occurred over the previous thirty to fifty years".{{sfn|Schwarz|2008|page=182}}

Like other minimalists of his time, Adams used a steady pulse to define and control his music. The pulse was best known from [[Terry Riley]]'s early composition ''[[In C]]'', and more and more composers used it as a common practice. Jonathan Bernard highlighted this adoption by comparing ''Phrygian Gates'', from 1977, and ''Fearful Symmetries'', from 1988.<ref>Jonathan W. Bernard, "Minimalism, Postminimalism, and the Resurgence of Tonality in Recent American Music" ''Journal of American Music'', Spring 2003, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 112–133.</ref>

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Adams started to add a new character to his music, which he called "the Trickster". The Trickster allowed Adams to use the repetitive style and rhythmic drive of minimalism while simultaneously poking fun at it.<ref>{{cite web |last=Stayton |first=Richard |title=The Trickster of Modern Music : Composer John Adams Keeps Reinventing Himself, to Wilder and Wilder Applause |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=June 16, 1991 |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-06-16-tm-1335-story.html |access-date=July 31, 2016}}</ref> When Adams commented on his own characterization of particular minimalist music, he said that he went joyriding on "those Great Prairies of non-event".{{sfn|Heisinger|1989}}

==Critical reception==
===Overview===
Adams won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2003 for ''[[On the Transmigration of Souls]]''.<ref name=pulitzer/> Response to his output as a whole has been more divided, and Adams's works have been called both brilliant and boring in reviews that stretch across both ends of the rating spectrum. ''[[Shaker Loops]]'' has been called "hauntingly ethereal", while 1999's ''[[Naïve and Sentimental Music]]'' has been called "an exploration of a marvelously extended spinning melody".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thestandingroom.com/blog/2004/10/long_ride_in_a_.html|title=Long Ride in a Stalled Machine.|publisher=Thestandingroom.com|access-date=September 22, 2014|archive-date=July 11, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711075256/http://www.thestandingroom.com/blog/2004/10/long_ride_in_a_.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> ''The New York Times'' called 1996's ''[[Hallelujah Junction]]'' "a two-piano work played with appealingly sharp edges", and 2001's ''[[American Berserk]]'' "a short, volatile solo piano work".<ref>{{cite news |last=Kozinn |first=Allan |author-link=Allan Kozinn |date=March 23, 2005 |title=Beyond Minimalism: The Later Works of John Adams |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/23/arts/music/23adam.html |access-date=February 11, 2009 }}</ref>

The most critically divisive pieces in Adams's collection are his historical operas. At first release, ''Nixon in China'' received mostly negative press. In ''The New York Times'', [[Donal Henahan]] called the [[Houston Grand Opera]] world premiere of the work "worth a few giggles but hardly a strong candidate for the standard repertory" and "visually striking but coy and insubstantial".<ref>[[Donal Henahan|Henahan, Donal]] (October 24, 1987). [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE7DC173AF937A15753C1A961948260 "Opera: ''Nixon in China''"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090313005033/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE7DC173AF937A15753C1A961948260 |date=March 13, 2009 }}. ''[[The New York Times]]''. Retrieved February 11, 2009.</ref> In the ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'', James Wierzbicki called Adams's score the weak point in an otherwise well-staged performance, describing it as "inappropriately placid", "cliché-ridden in the abstract" and trafficking "heavily in Adams's worn-out Minimalist clichés".<ref>Wierzbicki, James (December 6, 1992). [http://pages.sbcglobal.net/jameswierzbicki/adams.htm "John Adams: ''Nixon in China''."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080210155025/http://pages.sbcglobal.net/jameswierzbicki/adams.htm|date=February 10, 2008}} ''[[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]]''.</ref> But with time, the opera has come to be revered. In ''Music and Vision'', [[Robert Hugill]] called a production "astonishing ... nearly twenty years after its premier",<ref>Hugill, Robert. [http://www.mvdaily.com/articles/2006/07/nixon1.htm "Ensemble: A Mythic Story: ''Nixon in China''."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025112513/http://www.mvdaily.com/articles/2006/07/nixon1.htm |date=October 25, 2012 }} ''Music & Vision''. July 2, 2006.</ref> while ''The Guardian'''s [[Fiona Maddocks]] praised the score's "diverse and subtle palette" and Adams's "rhythmic ingenuity".<ref>{{Cite web|last=Maddocks|first=Fiona|date=February 22, 2020|title=Nixon in China review – a gripping human drama|url=http://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/feb/22/nixon-in-china-scottish-opera-review-theatre-royal-glasgow-john-adams|access-date=September 7, 2020|work=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref>

More recently, ''New York Times'' critic [[Anthony Tommasini]] commended a 2007 [[American Composers Orchestra]] concert celebrating Adams's 60th birthday, calling Adams a "skilled and dynamic conductor" and the music "gravely beautiful yet restless".<ref>[[Anthony Tommasini|Tommasini, Anthony]] (April 30, 2007). [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/30/arts/music/30adam.html "Doing Everything but Playing the Music."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170905101201/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/30/arts/music/30adam.html |date=September 5, 2017 }} ''The New York Times''. Retrieved February 11, 2009.</ref>

===Klinghoffer controversy===
{{further|The Death of Klinghoffer#Controversy and allegations of antisemitism}}

The opera ''[[The Death of Klinghoffer]]'' has been criticized as [[antisemitic]] by some, including the Klinghoffer family. [[Leon Klinghoffer]]'s daughters, Lisa and Ilsa, after attending the opera, released a statement saying: "We are outraged at the exploitation of our parents and the coldblooded murder of our father as the centerpiece of a production that appears to us to be anti-Semitic."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/11/arts/klinghoffer-daughters-protest-opera.html|title=Klinghoffer Daughters Protest Opera|last=Kozinn|first=Allan|author-link=Allan Kozinn|date=September 11, 1991|work=The New York Times|access-date=February 8, 2016|archive-date=September 24, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924045154/http://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/11/arts/klinghoffer-daughters-protest-opera.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In response to these accusations of antisemitism, composer and [[Oberlin College]] professor [[Conrad Cummings]] wrote a letter to the editor defending ''Klinghoffer'' as "the closest analogue to the experience of Bach's audience attending his most demanding works", and noted that, as a person of Jewish descent, he "found nothing anti-Semitic about the work".<ref>[[Conrad Cummings|Cummings, Conrad]] (September 27, 1991). "[https://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/27/opinion/l-what-the-opera-klinghoffer-achieves-134291.html What the Opera 'Klinghoffer' Achieves"]. ''[[The New York Times]]''. Retrieved February 8, 2016.</ref>

After the September 11 attacks in 2001, performances by the Boston Symphony Orchestra of excerpts from ''Klinghoffer'' were canceled. BSO managing director Mark Volpe said of the decision: "We originally programmed the choruses from John Adams' ''The Death of Klinghoffer'' because we believe in it as a work of art, and we still hold that conviction. ... [<nowiki/>[[Tanglewood Festival Chorus]] members] explained that it was a purely human reason, and that it wasn't in the least bit a criticism of the work."<ref>Sheldon, Molly. [http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/Music-America-Needs-Now/ Music America Needs Now] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150605041023/http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/Music-America-Needs-Now/ |date=June 5, 2015 }} ''NewMusicBox''. December 1, 2001.</ref> Adams and ''Klinghoffer'' librettist Alice Goodman criticized the decision,<ref>[[Allan Kozinn|Kozinn, Allan]] (November 14, 2001). [https://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/14/arts/klinghoffer-composer-fights-his-cancellation.html "'Klinghoffer' Composer Fights His Cancellation"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170831002230/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/14/arts/klinghoffer-composer-fights-his-cancellation.html |date=August 31, 2017 }}. ''[[The New York Times]]''.</ref> and Adams rejected a request to substitute a performance of ''Harmonium'', saying: "The reason that I asked them not to do ''Harmonium'' was that I felt that ''Klinghoffer'' is a serious and humane work, and it's also a work about which many people have made prejudicial judgments without even hearing it. I felt that if I said, 'OK, ''Klinghoffer'' is too hot to handle, do ''Harmonium'', that in a sense I would be agreeing with the judgment about ''Klinghoffer''.{{'"}}<ref>Swed, Mark. [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-nov-20-ca-6212-story.html "''Klinghoffer'': Too Hot to Handle?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250121024423/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-nov-20-ca-6212-story.html |date=January 21, 2025 }}, ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''. November 20, 2001</ref> In response to an article by the ''San Francisco Chronicle''{{'}}s [[David Wiegand]]<ref>Wiegand, David. [http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Boston-Symphony-missed-the-point-on-art-and-2860361.php "Boston Symphony missed the point on art and grieving"], ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]''. November 7, 2001</ref> denouncing the BSO decision, musicologist and critic [[Richard Taruskin]] accused the work of catering to "anti-American, anti-Semitic and anti-bourgeois" prejudices.<ref>[[Richard Taruskin|Taruskin, Richard]] (December 9, 2001). [https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/09/arts/music-music-s-dangers-and-the-case-for-control.html?pagewanted=1 "Music; Music's Dangers and the Case for Control"]. ''[[The New York Times]]''.</ref>

A 2014 revival by the [[Metropolitan Opera]] reignited debate. Former New York City mayor [[Rudy Giuliani]], who marched in protest against the production, wrote: "This work is both a distortion of history and helped, in some ways, to foster a three decade long feckless policy of creating a moral equivalency between the [[Palestinian Authority]], a corrupt terrorist organization, and the state of Israel, a democracy ruled by law."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/10/20/rudy-giuliani-why-i-protested-the-death-of-klinghoffer.html|title=Rudy Giuliani: Why I Protested ''The Death of Klinghoffer''|newspaper=The Daily Beast|date=October 20, 2014|access-date=October 21, 2014|last1=Giuliani|first1=Rudy|archive-date=October 21, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141021034720/http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/10/20/rudy-giuliani-why-i-protested-the-death-of-klinghoffer.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Mayor [[Bill de Blasio]] criticized Giuliani's participation in the protests, and [[Oskar Eustis]], the artistic director of [[The Public Theater]], said: "It is not only permissible for the Met to do this piece – it's required for the Met to do the piece. It is a powerful and important opera."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/21/arts/music/metropolitan-opera-forges-ahead-on-klinghoffer-in-spite-of-protests.html |title=Protests Greet Metropolitan Opera's Premiere of ''Klinghoffer'' |newspaper=The New York Times |date=October 20, 2014 |access-date=October 21, 2014 |last1=Cooper |first1=Michael |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> A week after watching a Met performance of the opera, Supreme Court Justice [[Ruth Bader Ginsburg]] said "there was nothing antisemitic about the opera" and characterized the portrayal of the Klinghoffers as "very strong, very brave" and the terrorists as "bullies and irrational".<ref>Bravin, Jess (October 28, 2014). [https://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2014/10/28/on-the-death-of-klinghoffer-justice-ginsburg-finds-for-the-defense/ On ‘The Death of Klinghoffer,’ Justice Ginsburg Finds for the Defense] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171126163523/https://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2014/10/28/on-the-death-of-klinghoffer-justice-ginsburg-finds-for-the-defense/ |date=November 26, 2017 }} ''The Wall Street Journal''.</ref>

==List of works==

===Operas and stage works===

* ''[[Nixon in China]]'' (1987)
* ''[[The Death of Klinghoffer]]'' (1991)
* ''[[I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky]]'' (song play) (1995)
* ''[[El Niño (opera)|El Niño]]'' (opera-oratorio) (2000)
* ''[[Doctor Atomic]]'' (2005)
* ''[[A Flowering Tree]]'' (2006)
* ''[[The Gospel According to the Other Mary]]'' (opera-oratorio) (2013)
* ''[[Girls of the Golden West (opera)|Girls of the Golden West]]'' (2017)
* ''[[Antony and Cleopatra (2022 opera)|Antony and Cleopatra]]'' (2022)

===Orchestral works===
* ''Common Tones in Simple Time'' (1979)
* ''[[Grand Pianola Music]]'' (1982)
* ''[[Shaker Loops]]'' (adaptation of the 1978 string septet for string orchestra) (1983)
* ''[[Harmonielehre]]'' (1985)
* ''[[The Chairman Dances]]'' (1985)
* ''[[Tromba Lontana]]'' (1986)
* ''[[Short Ride in a Fast Machine]]'' (1986)
* ''Fearful Symmetries'' (1988)
* ''El Dorado'' (1991)
* ''[[Lollapalooza (Adams)|Lollapalooza]]'' (1995)
* ''[[Slonimsky's Earbox]]'' (1996)
* ''[[Naïve and Sentimental Music]]'' (1998)
* ''[[Guide to Strange Places]]'' (2001)
* ''[[My Father Knew Charles Ives]]'' (2003)
* ''[[Doctor Atomic#Doctor Atomic Symphony|Doctor Atomic Symphony]]'' (2007)
* ''[[City Noir]]'' (2009)
* ''I Still Dance'' (2019)
* ''Frenzy'' (2023)
* ''The Rock You Stand On'' (2025)

===Concertante===
*piano
** ''[[Eros Piano]]'' (for piano and orchestra) (1989)
** ''[[Century Rolls]]'' (concerto for piano and orchestra) (1997)
** ''[[Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes?]]'' (concerto for piano and orchestra) (2018)
** ''After the Fall'' (concerto for piano and orchestra) (2024)
*violin
** [[Violin Concerto (Adams)|Violin Concerto]] (1995 [[Grawemeyer Award]] for Music composition) (1993)
** ''[[The Dharma at Big Sur]]'' (concerto for solo electric violin and orchestra) (2003)
** ''[[Scheherazade.2]]'' (dramatic symphony for violin and orchestra) (2014)
*others
** ''[[Absolute Jest]]'' (for string quartet and orchestra) (2012)
** [[Saxophone Concerto (Adams)|Saxophone Concerto]] (2013)

===Vocal and choral works===
* ''Ktaadn'' (1974)
* ''[[Harmonium (Adams)|Harmonium]]'' (1980-1)
* ''The Nixon Tapes'' (three suites from ''Nixon in China'') (1987)
* ''[[The Wound-Dresser]]'' (1989)
* ''[[Choruses from The Death of Klinghoffer]]'' (1991)
* ''[[On the Transmigration of Souls]]'' (2002)

===Chamber music===
* Piano Quintet (1970)
* ''Wavemaker'' (for string quartet, voices, tape, and live electronics) (1975, premiered 1978) 
* ''[[Shaker Loops]]'' (for string septet) (1978 - Revised version of ''Wavemaker'')
* [[Chamber Symphony (Adams)|Chamber Symphony]] (1992)
* ''[[John's Book of Alleged Dances]]'' (for string quartet) (1994)
* ''[[Road Movies (Adams)|Road Movies]]'' (for violin and piano) (1995)
* ''[[Gnarly Buttons]]'' (for clarinet and chamber ensemble) (1996)
* ''Son of Chamber Symphony'' (2007)
* ''Fellow Traveler'' (for string quartet) (2007)
* String Quartet No. 1 (2008)
* String Quartet No. 2 (2014)

===Other ensemble works===
* ''[[American Standard (Adams)|American Standard]]'', including "Christian Zeal and Activity" (1973)
* ''Grounding'' (1975)
* ''Scratchband'' (1996)
* ''Nancy's Fancy'' (2001)

===Tape and electronic compositions===
* ''Heavy Metal'' (1970)
* ''Hockey Seen: A Nightmare in Three Periods and Sudden Death'' (1972)
* ''Studebaker Love Music'' (1976)
* ''Onyx'' (1976)
* ''Light Over Water'' (1983)
* ''Hoodoo Zephyr'' (1993)

===Piano===
* ''Ragamarole'' (1973)
* ''Blue Light'' (1976)
* ''A Fox at Forty'' (1978)
* ''[[Phrygian Gates]]'' (1977)
* ''[[China Gates]]'' (1977)
* ''[[Hallelujah Junction]]'' (for two pianos) (1996)
* ''[[American Berserk]]'' (2001)
* ''Roll Over Beethoven'' (for two pianos) (2014)
* ''[[I Still Play]]'' (2017)

===Film scores===
* ''Matter of Heart'' (1982)
* ''[[The Cabinet of Dr. Ramirez]]'' (1991)
* ''American Tapestry'' (1999)
* ''[[I Am Love (film)|I Am Love]] (Io sono l'amore)'' – pre-existing pieces by Adams (2010)
* ''[[Call Me by Your Name (film)|Call Me by Your Name]]'', contributions (2017)

===Orchestrations and arrangements===
* ''The Black Gondola'' ([[Franz Liszt|Liszt's]] ''[[La lugubre gondola|La lugubre gondola II]]'' (1882)) (1989)
* ''Berceuse élégiaque'' ([[Ferruccio Busoni|Busoni's]] ''[[Berceuse élégiaque]]'' (1907)) (1989)
* ''Wiegenlied'' ([[Franz Liszt|Liszt's]] ''Wiegenlied'' (1881)) (1989)
* ''Six Songs by Charles Ives'' ([[Charles Ives|Ives]] songs) (1989–93)
* ''Le Livre de Baudelaire'' ([[Claude Debussy|Debussy's]] ''[[Cinq poèmes de Charles Baudelaire]]'') (1994)
* ''La Mufa'' ([[Astor Piazzolla|Piazzolla]] [[tango music|tango]]) (1995)
* ''Todo Buenos Aires'' (Piazzolla tango) (1996)

==Awards and recognition==
{{Div col}}

''' Major awards '''

*[[Pulitzer Prize for Music]] for ''On the Transmigration of Souls'' (2003)<ref name="pulitzer" />
**Pulitzer Prize for Music Finalist for ''Century Rolls'' (1998) and ''The Gospel According to the Other Mary'' (2014)<ref name="pulitzer" />
*[[Erasmus Prize]] (2019)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwclassical/article/John-Adams-Wins-2019-Erasmus-Prize-20190222|title=John Adams Wins 2019 Erasmus Prize|date=February 22, 2019|website=BroadwayWorld.com|access-date=April 4, 2019}}</ref>

'''Grammy awards'''

*[[Best Contemporary Composition]] for ''Nixon in China'' (1989)<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.grammy.com/grammys/artists/john-adams|title=John Adams|date=November 19, 2019|website=Grammy.com|access-date=March 2, 2020}}</ref>
*Best Contemporary Composition for ''El Dorado'' (1998)<ref name=":1" />
*[[Best Classical Album]] for ''On the Transmigration of Souls'' (2004)<ref name=":1" />
*[[Best Orchestral Performance]] for ''On the Transmigration of Souls'' (2004)<ref name=":1" />
*[[Best Classical Contemporary Composition]] for ''On the Transmigration of Souls'' (2004)<ref name=":1" />

'''Other awards'''

*[[Royal Philharmonic Society]] Music Award for Best Chamber Composition for ''Chamber Symphony'' (1994)<ref name="Grawemeyer" />
*[[University of Louisville]] [[Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition]] for ''Violin Concerto'' (1995)<ref name="grawemeyer.org">{{cite web|title=1995 – John Adams |url=http://grawemeyer.org/music/previous-winners/1995-john-adams.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140724193328/http://grawemeyer.org/music/previous-winners/1995-john-adams.html |archive-date=July 24, 2014 }}</ref>
*California Governor's Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts<ref name="Grawemeyer" /><ref>{{Cite web|date=October 8, 2009|title=Composer John Adams to Present Tanner Lectures at Yale University|url=https://news.yale.edu/2009/10/08/composer-john-adams-present-tanner-lectures-yale-university|access-date=September 2, 2020|website=YaleNews}}</ref>
* Cyril Magnin Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts<ref name="Grawemeyer" />
*''Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' ([[Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters]]) (2015)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nyphil.org/~/media/pdfs/newsroom/1617/Releases/gilbert-adams-final.pdf|title=Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic: John Adams's 70th Birthday Year|date=February 1, 2019|website=New York Philharmonic|access-date=April 4, 2019|archive-date=August 6, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220806004903/https://nyphil.org/~/media/pdfs/newsroom/1617/Releases/gilbert-adams-final.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
*[[Harvard Arts Medal]] (2007)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=518675|title=Harvard Arts medal|publisher=Thecrimson.como|access-date=September 22, 2014}}</ref>
*2018 [[BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards|BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award]] in the category of Music and Opera<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.premiosfronterasdelconocimiento.es/version/edicion_2018/|title=XI Edición Archives|website=Premios Fronteras|language=es|access-date=March 2, 2020}}</ref>
* Induction into the [[American Classical Music Hall of Fame]] (2009).<ref>{{cite web |title=John Adams |url=https://www.kennedy-center.org/artists/a/aa-an/john-adams/ |website=[[John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts|Kennedy Center]] |access-date=March 18, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=View Inductees |url=https://classicalwalkoffame.org/view-inductees/?id=1 |website=[[American Classical Music Hall of Fame]] |access-date=March 18, 2024 |archive-date=March 18, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240318015356/https://classicalwalkoffame.org/view-inductees/?id=1 |url-status=live }}</ref>

'''Memberships'''

*Fellow of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] (1997)<ref name="AAAS">{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter A|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterA.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=April 1, 2011|archive-date=February 18, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150218190148/http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterA.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
* Member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Letters]] (1997)<ref name="AAAL">{{cite web|title=Current Members |url=http://www.artsandletters.org/academicians2_current.php |publisher=American Association of Arts and Letters |access-date=April 1, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624004136/http://www.artsandletters.org/academicians2_current.php |archive-date=June 24, 2016 }}</ref>
* Foreign member of the [[Royal Swedish Academy of Music]]<ref name="k930">{{cite web | title=Ledamöter | website=Kungl. Musikaliska Akademien | url=https://www.musikaliskaakademien.se/omakademien/organisation/ledamoter.39.html | language=sv | access-date=November 12, 2024}}</ref>

'''Honorary Doctorates'''

*[[Honorary Doctorate]] of Arts from [[University of Cambridge]] (2003)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cam.ac.uk/news/honorary-degree-ceremony-2003|title=Honorary Degree Ceremony 2003|date=June 23, 2003|publisher=University of Cambridge|access-date=October 15, 2019}}</ref>
*Honorary Doctorate of Arts from [[Northwestern University]] (2008)<ref>{{Cite web|title=Recipients: Office of the Provost|url=https://www.northwestern.edu/provost/committees/administrative/honorary-degrees/honorary-degree-recipients.html|access-date=November 10, 2020|publisher=Northwestern University|archive-date=April 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418224031/https://www.northwestern.edu/provost/committees/administrative/honorary-degrees/honorary-degree-recipients.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
* Honorary Doctorate of Music from [[Duquesne University]] (2009)<ref>{{cite web|title=Duquesne Presents Honorary Degree to Renowned Composer|url=http://www.duq.edu/news/duquesne-presents-honorary-degree-to-renowned-composer|publisher=Duquesne University Office of Marketing and Communications|access-date=January 5, 2017|archive-date=January 6, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170106102233/http://www.duq.edu/news/duquesne-presents-honorary-degree-to-renowned-composer|url-status=live}}</ref>
* Honorary Doctorate of Music from [[Harvard University]] (2012)<ref>{{cite web|title=Eight receive honorary degrees|date=May 24, 2012|url=http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2012/05/eight-receive-honorary-degrees/|publisher=Harvard News Office|access-date=May 24, 2012|archive-date=June 29, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120629022303/http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2012/05/eight-receive-honorary-degrees/|url-status=live}}</ref>
* Honorary Doctorate of Music from [[Yale University]] (2013)<ref>{{Cite web|date=May 20, 2013|title=Yale awards 10 honorary degrees at 2013 Commencement|url=https://news.yale.edu/2013/05/20/yale-awards-10-honorary-degrees-2013-commencement|access-date=November 10, 2020|website=YaleNews|archive-date=November 10, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201110184955/https://news.yale.edu/2013/05/20/yale-awards-10-honorary-degrees-2013-commencement|url-status=live}}</ref>
* Honorary Doctorate of Music from [[Royal Academy of Music]] (2015)<ref>{{Cite web|title=James Jolly's citation for John Adams's Honorary Doctorate from the Royal Academy of Music|url=https://www.gramophone.co.uk/features/article/james-jolly-s-citation-for-john-adams-s-honorary-doctorate-from-the-royal-academy-of-music|access-date=November 10, 2020|work=[[Gramophone (magazine)|Gramophone]]}}</ref>

'''Other'''

*Creative Chair of the Los Angeles Philharmonic (2009–present)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.laphil.com/about/la-phil/creative-collaborators/john-adams/|title=John Adams|website=LA Phil|access-date=March 2, 2020}}</ref>

{{Div col end}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book|last=Adams|first=John|title=Hallelujah Junction: Composing an American Life|publisher=Faber and Faber|year=2008|isbn=978-0-571-23116-4|location=London|oclc=961365919}}
* {{cite book|last=Broyles|first=Michael|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D9-xeF0QYhgC|title=Mavericks and Other Traditions in American Music|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2004|isbn=978-0-300-10045-7}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Cahill |first=Sarah |author-link=Sarah Cahill (pianist) |year=2001 |encyclopedia=[[Grove Music Online]] |title=Adams, John |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=Oxford |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.42479 |isbn=978-1-56159-263-0 |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000042479 }} {{Grove Music subscription}}
* {{cite journal|last=Heisinger|first=Brent|title=American Minimalism in the 1980s|journal=[[American Music (journal)|American Music]]|volume=7|number=4|date=Winter 1989|pages=430–447|doi=10.2307/3051914|jstor=3051914}}
* {{cite book|editor-last=May|editor-first=Thomas|title=The John Adams Reader: Essential Writings on an American Composer|location=Pompton Plains, New Jersey|publisher=Amadeus|year=2006|isbn=1-57467-132-4}}
* {{Cite book|last=Ross|first=Alex|author-link=Alex Ross (music critic)|title=[[The Rest Is Noise]]: Listening to the Twentieth Century|publisher=Picador|year=2007|isbn=978-0-312-42771-9|location=New York}}
* {{Cite book|last=Sanchez-Behar|first=Alexander|title=John Adams: A Research and Information Guide|year=2020|isbn=978-1-315-16571-4|location=New York|publisher=Routledge |oclc=1130319430}}
* {{cite book|last1=Schwartz|first1=Elliott|last2=Godfrey|first2=Daniel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uGQXAQAAIAAJ|title=Music since 1945: Issues, Materials, and Literature|publisher=Schirmer Books|year=1993|isbn=978-0-02-873040-0}}
* {{cite book|last1=Schwarz|first1=K. Robert|title=Minimalists|location=London|publisher=Phaidon Press|orig-year=1996|year=2008|isbn=978-0-7148-4773-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mHIXAQAAIAAJ}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |date=June 22, 2021 |title=John Adams &#124; Biography, Music, Notable Works & Facts |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |location=Chicago |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Adams-American-composer-and-conductor |ref={{sfnRef|''Britannica''|2021}} }}
* {{cite book|last1=Warrack|first1=John|author1-link=John Warrack|last2=West|first2=Ewan|chapter=Adams, John|year=1992|title=The Oxford Dictionary of Opera|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-869164-5}}

==Further reading==
*Butterworth, Neil. "John Adams", ''Dictionary of American Classical Composers''. 2nd ed. New York and London: Routledge, 2005. {{ISBN|0-415-93848-1}}
*Daines, Matthew. "The Death of Klinghoffer by John Adams", ''[[American Music (journal)|American Music]]'' vol. 16, no. 3 (Autumn 1998), pp.&nbsp;356–358. [review]
*Palmese, Michael. "A Portrait of John Adams as a Young Man: The 1970s Juvenilia”, ''American Music'' 37, no. 2 (Summer 2019): 229–56.
*Richardson, John. "John Adams: A Portrait and a Concert of American Music", ''American Music'' vol. 23, no. 1 (Spring 2005), pp.&nbsp;131–133. [review]
*Rimer, J. Thomas. "''Nixon in China'' by John Adams", ''American Music'' vol. 12, no. 3 (Autumn 1994), pp.&nbsp;338–341. [review]
*Schwarz, K. Robert. "Process vs. Intuition in the Recent Works of Steve Reich and John Adams", ''American Music'' vol. 8, no. 3 (Autumn 1990), pp.&nbsp;245–273.

==External links==
{{Commons category||John Coolidge Adams}}
{{Archival records|title=John Adams Music Manuscripts and Papers, 1925-2017|location= [[Library of Congress]]|description_URL=https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/eadmus.mu024002}}
* {{Official website}}
* [https://www.boosey.com/pages/cr/composer/composer_main?composerid=2778 Profile], [[Boosey & Hawkes]]
* [http://www.cdmc.asso.fr/en/ressources/compositeurs/biographies/adams-john-1947 Profile], [[Centre de documentation de la musique contemporaine|Cdmc]]
* {{BBC composer page|johnadams}}
* [https://www.npr.org/artists/14996733/john-adams Programs regarding John Adams], [[NPR Music]]
* {{IMDb name|nm0011076|John Adams}}
* {{LCAuth|n81028483|John Coolidge Adams|115|}}
* [https://brahms.ircam.fr/en/john-adams Composer's entry on IRCAM's database]

'''Specific operas'''
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20191207203539/http://www.doctor-atomic.com/ "''Doctor Atomic'': An Opera by John Adams and Peter Sellars"]}} on doctor-atomic.com. References 2005 world premiere performances at the San Francisco Opera.
* [http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/news/dr_atomic/detail.aspx?id=4672 Essay on ''Doctor Atomic'' by Thomas May]. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081019010215/http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/news/dr_atomic/detail.aspx?id=4672 |date=October 19, 2008}}
* [https://www.playbill.com/article/the-myth-of-history-john-adams-and-peter-sellars-talk-nixon-in-china "The Myth of History": Interview with Adams and Peter Sellars about ''Nixon in China'']

'''Interviews'''
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080304084319/http://www.topologymusic.com/articles/adams.htm "A Vast Synthesising Approach"], interview with Robert Davidson, February 27, 1999
* {{NewMusicBox|id=john-adams-in-the-center-of-american-music|title=In the Center of American Music|composer=John Adams|author=[[Frank J. Oteri]]|conducted=November 11, 2000|date=January 1, 2001|ref=none}}
* [http://streams.wgbh.org/online/play.php?xml=clas/cmd070405adamsportrait.xml&template=wgbh_audio/ "An American Portrait: Composer John Adams"], [[WGBH Radio]], Boston
* [https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/7/archival_objects/3183531 Interviews (1983-2014)] by the [[Oral History of American Music|Oral History of American Music (Yale University)]] 

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[[Category:1947 births]]
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