John Adams

Sound

John Adams

Born February 15, 1947 · Worcester, Massachusetts, USA (age 79)

John Adams is an American musician, conductor, and music composer. Together with Steve Reich, Philip Glass and Terry Riley, he is one of the most famous representatives of minimal music.

Known For

Call Me by Your NameCall Me by Your Name · 2017
Call Me by Your Name
8.12017
MovieRomanceDrama
In the summer of 1983, a 17-year-old Elio spends his days in his family's villa in Italy. One day Oliver, a graduate student, arrives to assist Elio's father, a professor of Greco-Roman culture. Soon, Elio and Oliver discover a summer that will alter their lives forever.
I Am LoveI Am Love · 2010
I Am Love
6.72010
MovieDramaRomance
Emma has left Russia to live with her husband in Italy. Now a member of a powerful industrial family, she is the respected mother of three, but feels unfulfilled. One day, Antonio, a talented chef and her son's friend, makes her senses kindle.
TartuffeTartuffe · 1978
Tartuffe
7.01978
MovieComedyTV Movie
Donald Moffat stars in Moliere's classic comedy about lovable scoundrel Tartuffe, who befriends the wealthy Orgon and then attempts to seduce both his new friend's wife and daughter in this TV presentation from the Broadway Theatre Archive. Tartuffe pretends to be a pious man whose faith convinces Orgon and his family to succumb to his influence, but he's undone when his womanizing ways make it clear that his piety is a charade.
John Adams: Nixon in ChinaJohn Adams: Nixon in China · 2019
John Adams: Nixon in China
10.02019
MovieMusic
Besides the landing on the moon by the Apollo 11 mission in 1969, Richard Nixon’s meeting with China’s leader Mao Zedong in February 1972 then represented one of the biggest media spectacles in history. Nixon himself established the reference between the two events: “We came in peace for all mankind” not only marked the lunar module Eagle’s landing spot – Nixon also spoke of it into the microphones just before his departure to China. It was not John Adam’s aim to create a superficial or even a caricaturing representation of Nixon’s visit when composing his opera. He attempted to create a “heroic opera” about the construction of modern myths by using archetypical characters and situations. Director Marco Štorman stages Adams’ minimal music opera as a deconstruction review about the power of images, the politics of staging and the staging of politics.
John Adams: El NiñoJohn Adams: El Niño · 2000
John Adams: El Niño
10.02000
MovieMusicDocumentary
Headlined by Dawn Upshaw, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson and Willard White and orchestrated by the Berlin German Symphony Orchestra, this Nativity oratorio from composer John Adams tells the magical story of the birth of Christ. Conducted by renowned maestro Kent Nagano, this moving experience draws on both Old World and New World sources to re-create this influential story, highlighted by Adams’s trademark minimalism and melody.
Nixon In China – Hungarian State OperaNixon In China – Hungarian State Opera · 2024
Nixon In China – Hungarian State Opera
2024
MovieMusic
In February 1972, the American president Richard Nixon went to China to meet Mao Zedong. In the context of the war in Vietnam and the cold war, this encounter marked a turning point in Chinese‑American relations. Nixon in China addresses the political thaw instigated by ping-pong diplomacy, which began by an invitation of the American table tennis players to their Chinese counterparts, one year before the presidential visit.
The Death of KlinghofferThe Death of Klinghoffer · 2026
The Death of Klinghoffer
2026
MovieMusicHistory
An opera in a prologue and two acts by John Adams, with a libretto by Alice Goodman, inspired by the 1985 hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro. Conducted by Lawrence Renes, directed and designed by Luca Guadagnino. A new production by the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.
Remembering JungRemembering Jung · 1986
Remembering Jung
1986
MovieDocumentary
Gerhard Adler was born in 1904 and raised in Berlin. He took a doctorate from the University of Freiburg. When he was only 26 he began analysis with Jung. Later, with Jung’s approval, he decided to become an analyst himself. Shortly after Hitler came to power, he moved to London where he became a leading Jungian analyst and a co-founder of the original Jungian training society. He was chosen by Jung, along with Dr. Michael Fordham, to edit the Collected Works of Jung in English and was co-editor with Aniela Jaffe of Jung’s Letters, Vol I & II.

Filmography

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John Adams: Nixon in ChinaJohn Adams: Nixon in China · 2019
John Adams: Nixon in China
10.02019
MovieMusic
Besides the landing on the moon by the Apollo 11 mission in 1969, Richard Nixon’s meeting with China’s leader Mao Zedong in February 1972 then represented one of the biggest media spectacles in history. Nixon himself established the reference between the two events: “We came in peace for all mankind” not only marked the lunar module Eagle’s landing spot – Nixon also spoke of it into the microphones just before his departure to China. It was not John Adam’s aim to create a superficial or even a caricaturing representation of Nixon’s visit when composing his opera. He attempted to create a “heroic opera” about the construction of modern myths by using archetypical characters and situations. Director Marco Štorman stages Adams’ minimal music opera as a deconstruction review about the power of images, the politics of staging and the staging of politics.

Original Music Composer

The American TapestryThe American Tapestry · 2000
The American Tapestry
10.02000
MovieDocumentaryHistory
Showtime's "In the 20th Century" is a millennium-related strand of feature-length documentaries in which famous directors take on major subjects of their choosing. In the last of the six films, "The American Tapestry," filmmaker Gregory Nava takes viewers on an uplifting and challenging journey through the memoirs of five immigrant families, each one on a quest for its own American Dream. Beautifully interweaving accounts from several generations, Nava composes an astonishing tapestry of personal triumphs and tragedies, as each story of courage unfolds. The American Dream is an elusive thing, and the lives of the people in Nava's film are both triumphant and tragic, teeming with optimism and sometimes despair. They expose the finest and worst in America as well as what we feel most magnificent and dreadful. They are part of the many contrasting threads that make up the American tapestry — a complex portrait of a nation at the turn of the millennium.

Original Music Composer

John Adams: The Gospel According to the Other MaryJohn Adams: The Gospel According to the Other Mary · 2017
John Adams: The Gospel According to the Other Mary
2017
MovieMusic
Sir Simon Rattle, the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Rundfunkchor Berlin give an impeccable performance of the powerful biblical oratorio “The Gospel According to the Other Mary” by John Adams, one of the most renowned contemporary composers. The sophisticated score with a libretto by acclaimed theatre director Peter Sellars comes to life thanks to the Berliner Philharmoniker, whose intimate knowledge of Adams’s music stems from the composer himself: He attended the orchestra’s rehearsals. In the role of the Evangelist, Bubeck, Cummings and Medley lead through the narrative. A stunning highlight is Lazarus’s aria, sung by tenor Peter Hoare. But at the heart of the piece are Mary Magdalene and her sister Martha during the last days before Jesus’s death, impressively performed by mezzo-sopranos Kelley O’Connor and Tamara Mumford.

Original Music Composer

John Adams conducts John AdamsJohn Adams conducts John Adams · 2015
John Adams conducts John Adams
2015
MovieMusic
Like many of John Adams’ operas, Doctor Atomic is based on recent world historical events—here, the effusive Robert Oppenheimer, “father of the atomic bomb,” anxiously awaits the bomb’s first test in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Adams adapted the work into a symphony, comprising its three main acts. In the second half of the program, Adams conducts his 2015 violin concerto, Scheherazade.2, which restages the tale of the One Thousand and One Nights heroine as a strong woman navigating a patriarchial society, incarnated by the solo violin part. The work was composed specifically for Canadian-American virtuoso Leila Josefowicz and co-commissioned by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, who perform it to perfection. The evening then closes out with Tromba Lontana, an orchestral fanfare written to mark the 150th anniversary of Texas’s independence from Mexico in 1836.

Conductor