Adams, John: A Flowering Tree (2006) 113' Opera in 2 acts
Music TextDeutsch Libretto adapted by John Adams and Peter Sellars from a South Indian folktale and poems translated by A.K.Ramanujan (E/S)
Scoring lyrS,T,B soloists, SATB chorus (min.40);
2.picc.treble recorder(=perc,opt.picc).alto recorder(=soprano recorder, perc,opt.fl)*.2(II=corA).2.bcl.2(II=dbn)-4.2.3.0-timp.perc(2)-harp-cel-strings(min. 12.10.8.6.5) *OPTIONAL: recorder players play some very simple percussion (rain sticks, etc.), or they can play only recorder.
For full details on this stagework, including synopsis and roles, please visit our Opera section.
World Premiere 11/14/2006 Halle E im MuseumsQuartier, Wien Peter Sellars, dir / Jessica Rivera, sop / Russell Thomas, ten / Eric Owens, bar / Orquesta Sinfónica Juvenil Simón Bolívar; Schola Cantorum de Caracas / John Adams
Press QuotesDeutsch “The score is opulent, dreamlike, fiercely lyrical, at times shadowy and strange – unlike anything that the fifty-nine-year-old composer has written…” The New Yorker
“…some of the most ravishingly beautiful passages of music that Adams has yet composed… [He] continues to develop and surprise — something of a late-flowering tree himself.” Daily Telegraph
