1. John Coolidge Adams 15 February 1947-

2.  John Coolidge Adams was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1947.  He was all around the New England area 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. Early Life

3.  Adams began composing at the age of ten and first heard his music performed around the age of 13 or 14.  After he matriculated at Harvard University in 1965 he studied composition under Leon Kirchner, Roger Sessions, Earl Kim, and David Del Tredici.  While at Harvard, he conducted the Bach Society Orchestra and was a reserve clarinetist for both the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Opera Company of Boston.  He earned two degrees from Harvard University (BA 1971, MA 1972) and was among the first students to be allowed to submit a musical composition for a Harvard undergraduate thesis.  His piece "American Standard" was recorded and released on Obscure Records in 1975. He taught at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music from 1972 until 1984.  He served as musical producer for a number of series for the Public Broadcasting System including the award-winning series, The Adams Chronicles in 1976 and 1977. John Adams

4.  The music of John Adams is usually categorized as minimalist or post-minimalist although in interview he has categorized himself in typically witty fashion as a 'post- style' composer.  While Adams employs minimalist techniques, such as repeating patterns, he is not a strict follower of the movement.  Adams was born a generation after Steve Reich and Philip Glass, and his writing is more developmental and directionalized, containing climaxes and other elements of Romanticism. Musical Style

5.  Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Composition for Nixon in China (1989)  Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Composition for El Dorado (1998)  Pulitzer Prize for Music for On the Transmigration of Souls (2003)  Grammy Award for Best Classical Album for On the Transmigration of Souls (2005)  Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance for On the Transmigration of Souls (2005)  Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition for On the Transmigration of Souls (2005)  Harvard Arts Medal (2007)  Honorary Doctorate of Arts from Northwestern University (2008)  Honorary Doctorate of Music from Harvard University (2012)  California Governor's Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Awards

6.  His best-known works include Short Ride in a Fast Machine (1986)  On the Transmigration of Souls (2002), a choral piece commemorating the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks (for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2003)  Shaker Loops (1978), a minimalist four-movement work for strings.  His well-known operas include Nixon in China (1987), which recounts Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to China  Doctor Atomic (2005), which covers Robert Oppenheimer, the Manhattan Project, and the building of the first atomic bomb. Famous Works