He is a violinist, composer
and conductor born in Neuilly-sur-Seine,
France, to American
parents.He was brought up in
the United States
and regarded as a prodigy.He took
his first conducting lessons when he was seven years old, debuted at eight
and toured America
conducting major orchestras when he was twelve. He studied at the University
of Pittsburgh before becoming
the first American conductor at Bayreuth
in 1960. From 1965 to 1975 he conducted the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Berlin
Radio Symphony Orchestra and he succeeded George Szell at the Cleveland
Orchestra.After leaving Cleveland
he took posts conducting the Vienna State Opera, as a music consultant to
the Piitsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and as chief
conductor to the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.He was a guest conductor at the New
York Philharmonic in 2000 and following his appearance with them he was
asked to succeed Kurt Masur in 2002.He will retain this post until 2009 as well as being the music
director of the Arturo Toscanini Philharmonic.During 2006 he conducted the new
opera house orchestra in Valencia
and toured Asia conducting orchestras that included
the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.Through his career he has led over 150 orchestras in over 500 opera
and concert performances.He
was the Music director on the Grammy Award winning On the Transmigration of Souls by John Adams.His compositions include the opera 1984 based on George Orwell's
novel, The Empty Pot and music
for various instruments and orchestra.
John Coolidge Adams
Nonesuch 79816 (CD: On The Transmigration of Souls)
