John Adams

Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer John Adams (birth name John Coolidge Adams) was born on February 15, 1947, in Worcester, Massachusetts, U.S. He was raised in various New England states 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. From our site you may download John Adams's composition, The Chairman Dances (1985), in mp3. The work has been recorded by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Edo de Waart) and by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Simon Rattle). The Chairman Dances appears in the Modern Era soundtrack of Civilization IV, along with several other pieces by Adams.