John Adams

"Are you the police?" "No m'am. We're musicians."

The DECLINE OF THE WEST. Spengler predicted that circa 2000 we'd begin a period of Caesarism i.e. "extra-constitutional omnipotence of the executive branch of government" leading to ultimate collapse of Western civilization. Sound about right?

Interview with the great @GeraldFinley He & @juliabullock as Antony & Cleopatra absolutely own the stage. A privilege to witness this. They fight, scream & make love. Last show tonight @MetOpera If I dare say so w/o being slammed: "not to be missed" sfcv.org/articles/artis…

A chance to catch up with the great Philip Glass at Geffen Hall and hear his 11th Symphony. (I conducted the world premiere of his 12th Symphony, "Lodger" with @LAPhil several years ago.

Should be good! As they say, "check you local listings" for broadcast Saturday. whro.org/2025-05-20/joh…

I think I was at that concert, too.

"Antony and Cleopatra," starring @GeraldFinley and @_JuliaBullock and conducted by John Adams, arrives at @MetOpera tonight, running through June 7. metopera.org/season/2024-25…

Yikes. Fasten your seatbelts! youtube.com/watch?v=FqIx-7…

The President lets it be known. Can you believe that?

Everyone and everything is perfectly color-coded for After the Fall at @elbphilharmonie except that one damn contrabass.

It may have felt good to boo JD Vance but it was the wrong thing to do. You can’t embarrass this man; and it invites payback, which will further hurt K-Center. Usha Vance likes classical music, rare exception among this awful throng of Trumpistas. nytimes.com/2025/03/13/art…

Seattle Symphony marketing department gets it RIGHT!

I think I may have posted this before, but what the hell...it's one of my all-time favorite performances of anything by @A_C_O youtube.com/watch?v=QKvevb…

Tonight in San Francisco the finale of the Vikingur/Yuja tour and the last performance of Hallelujah Junction. Finally get to hear them. I'm preparing to get roughed up.

Enough with politics. Let's get real and learn how a piano makes its sounds, courtesy of Agnes, my 8 yr-old granddaughter.

Last week finished new orch piece for my friend & longtime fan, @marinalsop "The Rock You Stand On," and looking forward to going to Katowice, for the European premiere & seeing my Polski friends. Marin does US premiere with @philorch (note to self: needs lots of rehearsal)

Trump signs directive to make American music great again. Will banish all minor triads. nytimes.com/2025/02/07/us/…

San Franciso Symphony is first American orchestra to let A.I. create its subscription programs. Usually they include photo of Yuja Wang, even if she's not playing that week. This program, though...hmm...well, maybe they need to work on those algorithms a bit more.

SF Symphony's marketing folks are showering us with amazing revelations. Strauss's music went into eclipse after his death. No one played Rosenkavalier, Til Eulenspiegel, Heldenleben between 1948 and what? 2020? Doubtless because it was too searing & cerebral.

Not particularly sentimental, but I like to keep the ticket for the premiere of each of my pieces. So here's mine from "After the Fall" written for & played by the incredible Vikingur Olafsson last week.