
John Adams
Sound
Biography
John Adams is an American musician, conductor, and music composer. Together with Steve Reich, Philip Glass and Terry Riley, he is one of the most famous representatives of minimal music.
Known For

In the summer of 1983, a 17-year-old Elio spends his days in his family's villa in Italy. One day Oliver, a graduate student, arrives to assist Elio's father, a professor of Greco-Roman culture. Soon, Elio and Oliver discover a summer that will alter their lives forever.
Call Me by Your Name

America's first and longest running hour-long nightly news broadcast known for its in-depth coverage of issues and current events.
PBS News Hour

Two American kids who live on a U.S. military base in Italy explore friendship, first love, identity, and all the messy exhilaration and anguish of being a teenager.
We Are Who We Are

Sadler’s Wells & BBC Arts present a three-part celebration of dance featuring many of the UK’s leading dance companies and the most exciting new emerging talent. Presented by Brenda Emmanus as part of BBC Arts’ Culture in Quarantine, this unique festival has been curated in lockdown by Sadler’s Wells, London - one of the world’s leading dance houses.
Dancing Nation

Emma has left Russia to live with her husband in Italy. Now a member of a powerful industrial family, she is the respected mother of three, but feels unfulfilled. One day, Antonio, a talented chef and her son's friend, makes her senses kindle.
I Am Love

This musical adaptation of the Studs Terkel book examines the average worker's viewpoint--showing that he or she is anything but average. Based on a series of interviews with real working people--construction workers, waitresses, firemen, secretaries, and cleaning women, Working is both an exploration of the individuals' occupations and a lament for lost hopes and dreams.
Working

Donald Moffat stars in Moliere's classic comedy about lovable scoundrel Tartuffe, who befriends the wealthy Orgon and then attempts to seduce both his new friend's wife and daughter in this TV presentation from the Broadway Theatre Archive. Tartuffe pretends to be a pious man whose faith convinces Orgon and his family to succumb to his influence, but he's undone when his womanizing ways make it clear that his piety is a charade.
Tartuffe

Featuring music instead of any dialogue and set in a near Kafkaesque future, this loose remake of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari follows a bureaucrat whom mysterious Dr. Ramirez and his hideous sidekick want as their latest victim.
The Cabinet of Dr. Ramirez

From the elaborate Broadway revival of the 1932 Eva Le Gallienne/Florida Friebus production comes a whimsical retelling of the Lewis Carroll classic.
Alice in Wonderland

Documentary about Carl Jung based on footage of interviews in his last years of life. An introduction to 'Man and his Symbols', the last book he wrote.
The World Within: C.G. Jung In His Own Words

Documentary on the famous Swiss psychoanalyst, Carl Gustav Jung, featuring interviews with those who knew him and archive footage of Jung.
Matter of Heart

This documentary portrait is the first to celebrate the only American member of the French Impressionist school and the first American woman to become a famous painter. 'Mary Cassatt Impressionist From Philadelphia' is not only a biography of the artist’s life and work; the film sees both in the context of the status of the woman painter in Victorian America in the second half of the 19th century.
Mary Cassatt: Impressionist From Philadelphia

John Adams’s groundbreaking work vividly brings to life US President Nixon’s 1972 visit to the People’s Republic of China. Peter Sellars’s Metropolitan Opera production, based on his 1987 world-premiere staging, features choreography by Mark Morris and stars James Maddalena as Nixon, Robert Brubaker as Chairman Mao, Janis Kelly as First Lady Pat Nixon, Russell Braun as Chinese Premier Chou En-lai, and Kathleen Kim as Chiang Ch’ing, Mao’s wife. From the pomp of the public displays to the intimacy of the protagonists most private moments, Adams, Sellars and librettist Alice Goodman reveal the real characters behind the headlines in this landmark American opera.
John Adams: Nixon in China

Ken Talley, a Vietnam vet who lost his legs in combat, lives in a farmhouse in rural Missouri with his lover, Jed. Traumatized and bitter, Ken struggles to find meaning in his life. As he contemplates selling the farmhouse, old friends and family members descend for a vacation. Originally broadcast as part of the series "American Playhouse" (season 1, episode 9).
Fifth of July

An adaptation from the controversial John Adams opera about the true life incident that took place in the mid 80s. The liner "Achille Lauro" is on a 12-day cruise in the Mediterranean. While the ship is docked in Alexandria, a maid discovers that four of the passengers are actually members of the Palestine Liberation Organization traveling incognito. Startled by their discovery, the PLO cadre is forced to act. They take the passengers on board hostage and demand the release of 50 Palestinian activists held in Israeli jails. As Egyptian, American, Italian, and Palestinian authorities bicker over the best way to handle the situation (and who would negotiate with the terrorists), the kidnappers find themselves dealing with rebellion among their captives, and an argument between the four PLO members and Leon Klinghoffer, a Jewish-American confined to a wheelchair, eventually escalates into violence.
The Death of Klinghoffer

Shot over the course of a year, this intimate portrait of provocative composer John Adams presents scenes of the artist at work and at play against the backdrop of dramatic American landscapes that reflect the themes of his music. Though he has a number of credits to his name, Adams is best known for his unconventional opera "Nixon in China," which explores the former U.S. president's meeting with Mao Zedong in 1972.
Hail Bop! A Portrait of John Adams
An abridged dramatic reading of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol", performed live at the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York, and based on Dickens's own adaptation for his dramatic readings.
Bah, Humbug!: The Story of Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol'

John Adams’s mesmerizing score, in the powerful production of Penny Woolcock, tells the story of one of the pivotal moments in human history—the creation of the atomic bomb. Conducted by Alan Gilbert in his Met debut, this gripping opera presents the human face of the scientists, military men, and others who were involved in the project, as they wrestled with the implications of their work. Baritone Gerald Finley gives a powerful star turn in the title role as the brilliant J. Robert Oppenheimer.
Adams: Doctor Atomic

The Unanswered Ives is the first film about Charles Ives (1874-1954), an American modernist composer, one of the first American composers of international renown. The 60-minute documentary sheds light on Ives' life and work in all its facets and inconsistencies. American singer and composer Frank Zappa included Charles Ives in a list of influences that he presented in the liner notes of his debut album Freak Out! (1966). Ives continues to influence contemporary composers, arrangers and musicians. Planet Arts Records released Mists: Charles Ives for Jazz Orchestra. Ives befriended and encouraged a young Elliott Carter. In addition, Phil Lesh, bassist of the Grateful Dead, has described Ives as one of his two musical heroes.
The Unanswered Ives - Wunderkind. Wall-Street-Gigant. Klangpionier

Peer into the world of contemporary composer John Adams with this documentary that blends performance footage with insightful interviews and commentary from his collaborators and the master himself. Highlights include performances of Adams's Grammy Award-winning operas “Nixon in China” and “El Niño” and excerpts from Penny Woolcock’s film adaptation of “The Death of Klinghoffer”. Works by Steve Reich and Conlon Nancarrow are also performed by the Ensemble InterContemporain at the Théâtre Musical de Paris-Châtelet.