John Adams First Composer to Receive OPERA NEWS Award

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(November 2008)

In a ceremony last night (November 16) at Manhattan’s Plaza Hotel, John Adams became the first-ever composer to receive an OPERA NEWS Award. Adams was one of five artists to be honored for distinguished achievement, alongside Natalie Dessay, Renée Fleming, Marilyn Horne, and Sherrill Milnes. The composer was congratulated by his peers for musical innovation and for his commitment to opera; Fleming noted that performers who "re-create" are indebted to composers who create the repertoire.

Conductor Alan Gilbert presented Adams with his award; other presenters included Plácido Domingo, Garrison Keillor, James Levine, and Marian Seldes. The event was co-hosted by mezzo Susan Graham and baritone, Thomas Hampson.

Upcoming performances of stage works by John Adams:

Doctor Atomic (2005)
The award comes fresh on the heels of the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Doctor Atomic which closed November 13. Robert Spano (who led Lyric Opera of Chicago’s performances of Doctor Atomic last year) will lead the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in concert performances of Doctor Atomic November 21 and 23. A fully-staged production will be presented by English National Opera in February/March of 2009.

A DVD recording of Doctor Atomic is now available on the Opus Arte label (distributed by Naxos in North America). This original production is directed by work’s librettist and Adams’s long-time collaborator, Peter Sellars. Conductor Lawrence Renes leads the Netherlands Opera Chorus and the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra.

               Click here to watch a video clip.

               Click here to purchase the DVD.

A Flowering Tree (2006)
In September Nonesuch released the premiere CD recording of A Flowering Tree, Adams’s latest opera. The composer leads the London Symphony Orchestra and Venezuela’s Schola Cantorum Caracas, directed by Maria Guinand, on this recording.

               Click here to purchase A Flowering Tree on CD.

A Flowering Tree will receive its Asian premiere next month when Naoto Otomo conducts the Tokyo Symphony, Jessica Rivera, and Russell Thomas in a concert performance on December 6. In March Stefan Asbury will lead the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and the West Australian Opera Chorus in the Australian premiere on March 6-7. The composer will bring A Flowering Tree back to the U.S. for two performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Jessica Rivera, and Russell Thomas on March 15, 17.

El Niño (1999-2000)

David Robertson and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra will present Adams’s nativity oratorio, El Niño, next month at Powell Hall.

The Death of Klinghoffer (1990)

The Death of Klinghoffer will receive its Russian premiere with the St. Petersburg Chamber Choir and the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic under the baton of Jeffery Meyer next week on November 25, 29. Adams’s second opera returns to New York City as part of The Juilliard School's FOCUS! Festival on January 31, under the baton of the composer.

Nixon in China (1987)

Peter Sellars will direct the Metropolitan Opera premiere of Adams’s first opera, Nixon in China, in 2010-11.

I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky (1995)

This songplay in two acts has been presented more than fifteen times internationally since its world premiere in Berkeley.

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