John Adams at 70: Grand Pianola Music

Barbican Hall, London
Barbican, Silk Street, London EC2
United Kingdom
020 7638 8891
http://www.barbican.org.uk/eticketing

Timo Andres and David Kaplan pianos
Britten Sinfonia
*Britten Sinfonia Academy
Joana Carneiro conductor

Cartoon capers and nostalgia remade in this technicolor 70th birthday toast to John Adams.

Every note of John Adams’s music is an exploration of the sounds that changed America. European romanticism, Looney Tunes, plus a shiny new work from thirty-something maverick composer Timo Andres: a concert that’s simultaneously nostalgic and forward-looking, as Adams is himself.

So take nothing for granted. You might find yourself relaxing into the lush world of Adams’s Grand Pianola Music – but the cartoon-inspired mayhem of Chamber Symphony? Blink and you miss it. It’s all part of the composer's new world, a potent inspiration to young American voices like Timo Andres. Under the powerhouse direction of Joana Carneiro, this will glow like neon.



John Adams : Chamber Symphony
Timothy Andres : Steady Hand for two pianos and orchestra
Philip Glass : Music in Similar Motion
John Adams : Grand Pianola Music