JOHN ADAMS

Composer And Orchestra Conductor

Born in Worcester (Massachusetts, USA) in 1947, John Adams is one of the world’s most often-performed and appreciated classical music composers. With deep roots in minimalism, he has won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for Music (2003) and five Grammy Awards.

Among his most outstanding works are Harmonielehre, Short Ride in a Fast Machine, Shaker Loops or Sheherazade.2, and a series of operas such as Nixon in China, Doctor Atomic, The Death of Klinghoffer and The Flowering Tree.

As co-producer and active stakeholder since the initial commission, the Liceu is privileged to host the European premiere of his latest operatic creation, Antony and Cleopatra. On this occasion, not only is he the composer but will also be conducting It will be tantamount to harking back Stravinsky’s and Ravel’s incredible visits to Barcelona.

He likes to define his music as post-minimalist, and although he does use the technique of pattern repetition, he does not follow it strictly. ‘My works are varied, detailed constructions that include light and dark, calmness and upheaval’.

His music sprang up in reaction to serialism and the ‘scientific’ composer. Like Mahler or Bach, Adams stands at the end of an era, and his language incorporates all the evolutions and advances of the last 50 years.

A composer, conductor and thinker, Adams stands out in contemporary music for his profound expression, his brilliant sound and the humanistic nature of the themes he addresses. Far from more analytical aesthetics and modern academicism, he seeks an expansive, expressive language.

Opera

Antony & Cleopatra

FROM 28 OCT TO 8 NOV 2023 (6 performances)

John Adams, composer and conductor

Conference

To be confirmed

At the Foyer