A milestone in contemporary opera – John Adams conducts Girls of the Golden West with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, featuring a stupendous cast

John Adams on the podium. © Riccardo Musacchio To those who might have wondered what it would have been like to take notes from a musical conversation between Mozart, Berlioz, the Gershwins, Duke Ellington and Leonard Bernstein, John Adams’s gripping Gold Rush opera Girls of the Golden West (2015-17/2022) provides the most splendid answer. Given...

Championing the cimbalom in American music – interview with Chester Englander

Chester Englander performing John Adams's Scheherazade.2 (2014) with the Cleveland Orchestra in November 2018. © Roger Mastroianni “Chester has done more to bring the cimbalom to the awareness of American listeners than anyone I know of. His unique combination of superb musicianship and curiosity for new ideas makes him an ideal collaborator for us composers....

Celebrating John Williams at 90 in style with LA Phil and Dudamel

John Wiliams in conversation with Gustavo Dudamel. © Courtesy of Los Angeles Philharmonic Association Closing the third season of their free online series, Sound/Stage, Los Angeles Philharmonic join Music Director Gustavo Dudamel to celebrate the ninetieth birthday of John Williams. Filmed at Hollywood Bowl, the season finale includes three best-loved selections from the composer’s unparalleled...