John Luther Adams (born 1953) is a composer whose music embodies the landscapes of Alaska, his home since 1978. 1953 (MCMLIII) is a common year starting on Thursday. ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... State nickname: The Last Frontier, The Land of the Midnight Sun Other U.S. States Capital Juneau Largest city Anchorage Governor Frank Murkowski (R) Senators Ted Stevens (R) Lisa Murkowski (R) Official language(s) English Area 663,267 mi² / 1,717,854 km² (1st)  - Land 571,951 mi² / 1,481...

Note: this article is about the composer John Luther Adams, who should not be confused with the composer John Adams (b. 1947 in Worcester, MA). John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was the first (1789–1797) Vice President of the United States, and the second (1797–1801) President of the United States. ...

Biography

Like many composers of his generation, John Luther Adams did not grow up immersed in serious music. Adams began playing music as a teenager, as a drummer in rock bands. Through his experience in rock bands, friends introduced him to the music of Frank Zappa. Through the liner notes of a Zappa album, he discovered Edgar Varèse. Similarly, Varèse's liner notes brought him to John Cage. But it was not until Adams discovered Morton Feldman that he found his calling. Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American composer, guitarist, singer and satirist. ... Liner notes are the booklets which come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or any sound recording container. ... Edgar (or Edgard) Varèse (December 22, 1883 – November 6, 1965) was a French-born composer, who moved to the United States in 1915, and took American citizenship in 1926. ... John Cage John Milton Cage (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American experimental music composer and writer. ... Morton Feldman (born January 12, 1926, died September 3, 1987) was an American composer. ...

Adams attended Cal Arts as an undergraduate in the early 1970s, where he studied with James Tenney and Leonard Stein. His group of classmates includes the composers Lois V Vierk and Peter Garland. The California Institute of the Arts, commonly known as CalArts, and located in Valencia, California, grants degrees in visual and performing arts. ... James Tenney (August 10, 1934 in Silver City, NM) is an American composer and influential music theorist. ... Lois V Vierk (born August 4, 1951, Hammond, Indiana) is a post-minimalist or totalist composer who lives in New York City. ... Peter Garland (born January 27, 1952) is a composer best known for publishing Soundings Press, one of the few sources of new music scores and articles while in print. ...

After graduating from Cal Arts, Adams began work in environmental protection. This work first brought him to Alaska in 1975. His deep love for the location led to his permanent migration there in 1978. It continues to be the driving force in his music to this day.

Adams's musical work spans many genres and media. He has composed for television, film, children's theater, voice, acoustic instruments, orchestra, and electronics.

His frequent use of static textures and subtle changes show his obvious affinities with minimalism, and his tendencies toward extended, meditative, and intuitive structures belie his true love of the music of Morton Feldman. Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is stripped down to its most fundamental features. ... Morton Feldman (born January 12, 1926, died September 3, 1987) was an American composer. ...

Lou Harrison said he is "one of the few important young American composers," while Adams himself says: "My music has always been profoundly influenced by the natural world and a strong sense of place. Through sustained listening to the subtle resonances of the northern soundscape, I hope to explore the territory of 'sonic geography' - that region between place and culture...between environment and imagination." Lou Silver Harrison (May 14, 1917 - February 2, 2003) was an American composer. ...

List of Works

• Green Corn Dance (1974) for percussion ensemble
• Night Peace (1976) for antiphonal choirs, solo soprano, harp, and percussion
• songbirdsongs (1974-80) for 2 piccolos and 3 percussion
• Strange Birds Passing (1983) for flute choir
• up into the silence (1978/84) (poem by e. e. cummings) for voice and piano
• How the Sun Came to the Forest (1984) (poem by John Haines) for chorus and alto flute, English horn, percussion, harp, and strings
• The Far Country of Sleep (1988) for orchestra
• Giving Birth to Thunder, Sleeping With His Daughter, Coyote Builds North America (1986-90) for theater
• magic song for one who wishes to live and the dead who climb up to the sky (1990) for voice and piano
• Dream in White On White (1992) for orchestra
• Earth and the Great Weather (1990-93) for theater
• Five Yup'ik Dances (1991-94) for solo harp
• Crow and Weasel (1993-94) (story by Barry Lopez) for theater
• Sauyatugvik: The Time of Drumming (1995) for orchestra
• Clouds of Forgetting, Clouds of Unknowing (1991-95) for orchestra
• Five Athabascan Dances (1992/96) for harp and percussion
• Strange and Sacred Noise (1991-97) for percussion quartet
• Make Prayers to the Raven (1996/98) flute, violin, harp, cello, and percussion
• In the White Silence (1998) for orchestra
• Qilyaun (1998) for four bass drums
• Time Undisturbed (1999) for 3 shakuhachis, 3 kotos, and shō
• In a Treeless Place, Only Snow (1999) for celesta, harp, 2 vibraphones, and string quartet
• The Light That Fills the World (1999-2000) for orchestra
• Among Red Mountains (2001) for solo piano
• The Immeasurable Space of Tones (1998-2001) for violin, vibraphone, piano, sustaining keyboard, contrabass instrument
• The Farthest Place (2001) for violin, vibraphone, marimba, piano, double bass
• After the Light (2001) for alto flute, vibraphone, harp
• Dark Wind (2001) for bass clarinet, vibraphone, marimba, piano
• Red Arc / Blue Veil (2002) for piano, mallet percussion and processed sounds
• The Mathematics of Resonant Bodies (2002) for solo percussion and processed sounds
• Poem of the Forgotten (2004) (poem by John Haines) for voice and piano
• for Lou Harrison (2004, premiere 2005) for string quartet, string orchestra, and 2 pianos

E. E. Cummings Edward Estlin Cummings (October 14, 1894 – September 3, 1962), typically abbreviated E. E. Cummings, was an American poet, painter, essayist, and playwright. ... John Haines is a Liverpool-based part-time writer of songs and comical stories. ... Barry Holstun Lopez (born January 6, 1945) is an American author. ... A shakuhachi, showing its utaguchi (blowing edge) and inlay The shakuhachi (尺八 in Japanese, pronounced /shakoo-hatchee/) is a Japanese end-blown flute which is held vertically like a recorder instead of being held transversely like the familiar Western transverse flute. ... Masayo Ishigure plays the koto The koto (Japanese: 箏) is a traditional stringed musical instrument from Japan resembling a zither. ... This article refers to the musical instrument. ... John Haines is a Liverpool-based part-time writer of songs and comical stories. ...

Discography

• songbirdsongs (1981)
• A Northern Suite/Night Peace (1983)
• Forest Without Leaves (1987)
• The Far Country (1993)

1. Dream in White on White
2. Night Peace
3. The Far Country of Sleep

• Earth and the Great Weather (1995)
• Clouds of Forgetting, Clouds of Unknowing (1997) - nominated for the 1999 Grammy awards in the Best Classical Contemporary Composition and Best Orchestral Performance categories
• Dark Wind (2002)
• The Light That Fills the World (2002)

1. The Farthest Place
2. The Light That Fills the World
3. The Immeasurable Space of Tones

• In the White Silence (2003)

Grammy Award statuette The Grammy Awards, presented by the Recording Academy (an association of Americans professionally involved in the recorded music industry) for outstanding achievements in the recording industry, is one of four major music awards shows held annually in the United States (the Billboard Music Awards, the American Music... The Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition was first awarded in 1961. ... The Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance has been awarded since 1959. ...

External links

• JohnLutherAdams.com
• NewAlbion.com: John Luther Adams
• DRAM entry for JLA

Listening

• NewMusicJukeBox.org: John Luther Adams