John Adams' Latest Symphony

Posted by Sarah Canice Funke Aug 18, 2007

The BBC Orchestra's Artist-in-Association, John Adams, will be conducting a performance of American music, including two of his own works. The evening will open with Aaron Copland's Billy the Kid (arranged as an orchestral suite rather than as the full opera). The second piece is John Adams' own Century Rolls, a work commissioned by Emanuel Ax and based on the old piano rolls of the early twentieth century. The concert will close with the world premiere of John Adams' Doctor Atomic Symphony, a work inspired by the life of the man who invented the atomic-bomb--J. Robert Oppenheimer.

If you can't attend the BBC Proms this year, don't worry. Go to the BBC website after Tuesday in order to stream an audio file of the performance. Or listen to a clip of the Doctor Atomic Symphony at John Adams' website.