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About Sam
“Adams shows himself to be among the most interesting composers of the millennial generation.”
—Gramophone Magazine
Samuel Adams (b. 1985) is an American composer. Gramophone Magazine praised Adams as “among the most interesting composers of the millennial generation in his negotiation of the tensions that shape and define his musical narratives: between directness and implication, silence and resonance, emotion and its aftermath” and Joshua Kosman (SF Chronicle, On a Pacific Aisle) called Adams "a creator of deep originality operating at the highest levels of inventiveness."
Adams’s music has been hailed as “mesmerizing” by The New York Times and The San Francisco Chronicle, “transcendent” by The Chicago Tribune, and “beguiling” by The Strad magazine. He has been commissioned by a number of major ensembles, including the San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New World Symphony, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and The Living Earth Show. He has also collaborated with many of today's leading artists, such as conductors Esa-Pekka Salonen, Michael Tilson Thomas, Karina Canellakis, and David Robertson; pianists Conor Hanick, Emanuel Ax, Sarah Cahill, and Joyce Yang; and violinists Karen Gomyo, Anthony Marwood, and Jennifer Koh.
Adams’s orchestral work No Such Spring, commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony for pianist Conor Hanick and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, premiered in February 2023 to widespread acclaim. The Wall Street Journal described it as “bewitching… a major work as appealing as it is thought-provoking, and as heartfelt as it is inventive.” The San Francisco Chronicle called it “ingenious… a marvel… Adams’ formal logic is not only impeccable but accessible. You can feel the landscape becoming broader deep in your innards.” Musical America praised it as “scintillating and gloriously expansive… at once ingratiating, inventive, and structurally ambitious,” adding that No Such Spring is “one of those new works that leaves a listener wanting to hear it all over again right away.”
Highlights of the 2026–27 season include the premiere of his second violin concerto, The Wheel, written for Karen Gomyo and the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Elim Chan, as well as performances of No Such Spring with Conor Hanick, Ludovic Morlot, and the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. In the summer of 2027, Adams's new work for cellist Seth Parker Woods and pianist Adam Tendler, co-commissioned by the Aspen Music Festival and 92NY, will receive its premiere at the Aspen Music Festival.
Adams also serves as artist-in-residence with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, where he curates the ACO's inaugural Currents festival in Sydney. Over four days, Currents will collide the old and the new and feature violinist Karen Gomyo and pianist Conor Hanick, two of Adams's closest collaborators, in performances of everything from Bach to Perich, Mozart to Cage, and Messiaen to Montgomery.
Other projects include performances of his Third String Quartet by the Calidore Quartet at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and a European tour of Time is how you spend your love, featuring the Marmen Quartet and percussionist Dominique Vleeshouwers in performances of Adams's recent works for string quartet and percussion.
Adams served as Mead Composer-in-Residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 2015 to 2018 and as Composer-in-Residence with Het Concertgebouw in Amsterdam during the 2021-22 season. He has held residencies at Civitella Ranieri (Umbria, Italy), Music Academy of the West (Santa Barbara, CA), Spoleto Festival (Charleston, SC), Djerassi Resident Artists Program (California, USA), Ucross (Wyoming, USA), and the Visby International Centre for Composers (Gotland, Sweden). Adams lives and works in Seattle, WA.
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