John Coolidge Adams Born: Worcester, Mass., 15 Feb. 1947

(U.S. Opera Home Page)

Operas

• Nixon in China (22 Oct. 1987, Houston Grand Opera)
• The Death of Klinghoffer (19 Mar. 1991, Brussels)
• I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky (11 May 1995, Berkeley)
• Doctor Atomic. Libretto by Alice Goodman. Commissioned for performance Sep. 1995, San Francisco.

About John Adams

Adams' music, including his two "grand operas" written with poet Alice Goodman, have been called "post-minimalist" for the way they expand on the style pioneered by composers like Steve Reich and Philip Glass. Adams has recently been commissioned to compose his third traditional opera, for San Francisco and Chicago, about the development of the atomic bomb. As with Nixon and Klinghoffer, Alice Goodman will write the libretto and Peter Sellars will direct.

• The John Adams Earbox (including Ceiling/Sky and excerpts from Nixon in China and The Death of Klinhoffer). Various artists, 1999. Compact disc (10 discs). Nonesuch 79453.

• Nixon in China. St. Luke's/de Waart. Compact disc: Elektra Nonesuch 9 79177-2 [highlights on 9 79193-2].

• The Death of Klinghoffer. Opéra de Lyon/Nagano. Compact disc: Elektra Nonesuch 9 79281-2.

• I Was Looking At The Ceiling And Then I Saw The Sky. Audra McDonald, Marin Mazzie. Compact disc: Elektra Nonesuch 9 79473-2.

• "This Is Prophetic" from Nixon in China, on The World So Wide, Dawn Upshaw 1998. Compact disc: Nonesuch 79458.