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John Coolidge Adams
15 February 1947-
Early Life
 John Coolidge Adams was born in Worcester,
Massachusetts, in 1947.
 He was all around the New England area where he was
greatly influenced by New England's musical culture.
 He graduated from Concord High School in Concord,
New Hampshire.
 His father taught him how to play the clarinet, and he
was a clarinetist in community ensembles.
 He later studied the instrument further with Felix
Viscuglia, clarinetist with the Boston Symphony
Orchestra.
John Adams
 Adams began composing at the age of ten and first heard his music
performed around the age of 13 or 14.
 After he matriculated at Harvard University in 1965 he studied composition
under Leon Kirchner, Roger Sessions, Earl Kim, and David Del Tredici.
 While at Harvard, he conducted the Bach Society Orchestra and was a
reserve clarinetist for both the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Opera
Company of Boston.
 He earned two degrees from Harvard University (BA 1971, MA 1972) and
was among the first students to be allowed to submit a musical
composition for a Harvard undergraduate thesis.
 His piece "American Standard" was recorded and released on Obscure
Records in 1975. He taught at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music
from 1972 until 1984.
 He served as musical producer for a number of series for the Public
Broadcasting System including the award-winning series, The Adams
Chronicles in 1976 and 1977.
Musical Style
 The music of John Adams is usually categorized as
minimalist or post-minimalist although in interview he has
categorized himself in typically witty fashion as a 'poststyle' composer.
 While Adams employs minimalist techniques, such as
repeating patterns, he is not a strict follower of the
movement.
 Adams was born a generation after Steve Reich and Philip
Glass, and his writing is more developmental and
directionalized, containing climaxes and other elements of
Romanticism.
Awards
 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Composition for Nixon in China
(1989)
 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Composition for El Dorado
(1998)
 Pulitzer Prize for Music for On the Transmigration of Souls (2003)
 Grammy Award for Best Classical Album for On the Transmigration of
Souls (2005)
 Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance for On the
Transmigration of Souls (2005)
 Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition for On
the Transmigration of Souls (2005)
 Harvard Arts Medal (2007)
 Honorary Doctorate of Arts from Northwestern University (2008)
 Honorary Doctorate of Music from Harvard University (2012)
 California Governor's Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts
Famous Works
 His best-known works include Short Ride in a Fast Machine
(1986)
 On the Transmigration of Souls (2002), a choral piece
commemorating the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks
(for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2003)
 Shaker Loops (1978), a minimalist four-movement work for
strings.
 His well-known operas include Nixon in China (1987), which
recounts Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to China
 Doctor Atomic (2005), which covers Robert Oppenheimer, the
Manhattan Project, and the building of the first atomic bomb.