String Quartet No. 3 Review (ASQ, Ukaria)
The Australian String Quartet recently performed String Quartet No. 3, Alma, at the UKARIA Cultural Centre in South Australia. Limelight awarded the performance ★★★★★, calling the piece “a substantial work… hypnotic,” and writing that “the ASQ was at its best in this beguiling piece.” InDaily South Australia was equally enthusiastic: “If one thought this work by Samuel Adams would serve just as an opener, one was completely wrong. It made a tremendous impact.”
Currents at ACO On The Pier
Sam is a featured Artist in Residence with the Australian Chamber Orchestra in 2027 and, as part of his residency, will lead the inaugural Currents festival. He is joined by pianist Conor Hanick and violinist Karen Gomyo for five concerts that collide old and new, with music ranging from Mozart and Messiaen to Cage, Perich, and Montgomery.
Read more HERE.
No Such Spring Review (Hanick, Lintu, MAW)
No Such Spring received a performance at the Music Academy of the West with pianist Conor Hanick, conductor Hannu Lintu, and the MAW Festival Orchestra. The Santa Barbara Independent called the work “uniquely captivating… formidable… a freshly-minted sensation,” adding that there was “never a dull moment.”
Read the full review HERE.
Time is…
I had a blast putting together this concert with the incredible Marmen Quartet and Dutch percussionist Dominique Vleeshouwers for the String Quartet Biennale Amsterdam. The piece will continue to tour next season in Europe, with shows at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and the Muziekgebouw Eindhoven and elsewhere. More soon!
🔉 New Record 🔉
I’m super excited to share the news that my new string quartet was just released into the wild.
This is a beautiful performance by the Alma Quartet, who commissioned the work. Listen to the record HERE.
Many thanks to Marc Daniel, Ben, Jeroen, and Clément.
-Sam
Fall Roundup
This fall was a busy one!
In October, Other Minds presented a portrait concert of Adams, featuring stunning performances by some of his closest collaborators, including violinist Helen Kim, pianists Conor Hanick and Sarah Cahill, percussionist Haruka Fujii, and the Friction Quartet.
Joshua Kosman called the concert “a rolling, eclectic tour of a highly original musical imagination,” and Adams “clearly a creator of deep originality operating at the highest levels of inventiveness.”
Read Kosman’s review here.
In November, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players gave the West Coast premiere of First Work with soprano Winnie Nieh. The SF Classical Voice praised the piece for its “engaging textures, sensuous lines, and shimmering ensemble timbres,” and Joshua Kosman remarked: “I couldn’t quite believe the transformative power of the music I’d just heard.”
Two Premieres @ Het Concertgebouw
A world premiere and a European premiere of Sam’s will happen in September at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. On the 21st is the Concertgebouw-commissioned Variations, which was completed during his time as composer-in-residence and which had to be postponed due to COVID. On the 25th in the kleine zaal, the Amsterdam-based Alma Quartet will premiere his third string quartet.
Current Reviewed
Gramophone magazine says: "Adams shows himself to be 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."
The Strad hails the record as "a deeply rewarding disc that is by turns exhilarating and emotionally affecting, from a composer with very much his own distinctive voice – and captured in close, detailed sound."
Current featured on Bandcamp Daily's Best Contemporary Classical Music
Bandcamp writer Peter Margasak writes: "This superb portrait album from composer Samuel Adams captures his ability to shade and collide acoustic music rooted in the classical tradition with subtle electronic flourishes that transform his writing in mysterious ways."
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LA Phil Announces 23-24 Season
which includes a new work by Sam for organist James McVinnie and conductor Vimbayi Kaziboni to be premiered as part of the inaugural California Festival at Walt Disney Concert Hall this November.
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