John Adams on Finding His Voice

Composer John Adams recounts going through a crisis of musical identity in his 20s and 30s, torn between the intellectual-leaning contemporary musical landscape of the 1970s and the music he felt drawn to by Jimmy Hendrix, Miles Davis, and Aretha Franklin. He describes how he eventually found his own musical language, informed by the minimalist pioneers, jazz, Stravinsky, and others.

Learn more about John Adams and his music at www.boosey.com/adams.

Buy the new 40-disc box set 'John Adams Collected Works,' out now on Nonesuch Records: https://johnadams.lnk.to/CollectedWorks

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Music:
"Road Movies" for violin and piano
Composed by John Adams
Performed by Leila Josefowicz, violin, and John Novacek, piano
Courtesy of Nonesuch Records

Images:
Photo of John Adams, 1982, courtesy of Los Angeles Philharmonic Archives
Photos of John Adams in the SFCM electronic studio, courtesy of San Francisco Conservatory of Music
Photo of Adams with score, courtesy of the composer
Photo of Adams conducting, 1967, courtesy of the composer
Photo of Adams with Beethoven statue, courtesy of the composer
Photo of Adams during Nixon in China rehearsal, courtesy of Edward Levy

Film by Jesse Yang