John Adams, perhaps the most well-known and most frequently-performed of American living composers, is the Composer of the Year for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s 2008-2009 season. Throughout the season, selections from Adams’ orchestral repertoire are scheduled in four BNY Mellon Grand Classics programs. The centerpiece of the season are these two special programs in January, featuring several of Adams’ large-scale works that were inspired by 20th-century historic events, which the composer will conduct (see also the performance on January 17)
These performances mark the first time that some of Adams’ music has ever been performed in Pittsburgh. The focal point of these concerts is the Doctor Atomic Symphony—music from Adams’ most recent opera about the scientists, particularly Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, who were involved with the historic Manhattan Project. This newly-crafted symphony takes musical threads from the opera’s score and combines them into a symphonic form performed without vocalists.
Opening the January 16 program is a concert version of Act III of Nixon in China, featuring baritone James Maddalena in the title role, which he created in the work’s premiere. Tenor Russell Thomas sings the role of Mao, and sopranos Jessica Rivera and Hila Plitmann sing Pat Nixon and Madame Mao, respectively. The Doctor Atomic Symphony closes the program.
