John Adams is generally associated with minimalism, a style of composition pioneered by Terry Riley, Phillip Glass and Steve Reich in which short musical motives are repeated, although undergoing gradual transformations in melody, harmony or rhythm one note at a time. While repetition in the works of Riley, Glass and Reich can seem interminable, Adams adds more drama and musical direction, as well as a more accessible tonal and melodic language to his scores.                        

Born in Worcester, MA, Adams studied at Harvard University before settling in California. From 1979 to 1985, during his tenure as composer-in-residence with the San Francisco Symphony, he established a fine reputation in the musical establishment with such works as Harmonium, settings of one poem by John Donne and two by Emily Dickinson. In September of 2003 Adams succeeded Pierre Boulez as Composer in Residence at Carnegie Hall.

In the 1980s, Adams’s collaboration with stage director Peter Sellars catapulted him into international fame with the Grammy-winning opera Nixon in China, based on Richard Nixon’s breakthrough trip in 1972. It became one of the most performed contemporary operas in recent history.

The Chairman Dances, composed in 1985, had been intended for Nixon in China but was dropped in the final version. According to Adams, it began as a quasi flashback for Chairman Mao and his bride, Chiang Ch’ing (Jiang Qing), former movie star, firebrand, revolutionary, executioner, and architect of China’s calamitous Cultural Revolution.

Adams composed The Chairman Dances according to the following scenario: It is set in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People where Nixon is hosting a huge banquet for his Chinese counterpart:

“Chiang Ch’ing, a.k.a. Madame Mao, has gatecrashed the Presidential Banquet. She is first seen standing where she is most in the way of the waiters. After a few minutes, she brings out a box of paper lanterns and hangs them around the hall, then strips down to a cheongsam, skin-tight from neck to ankle and slit up the hip. She signals the orchestra to play and begins dancing by herself. Mao is becoming excited. He steps down from his portrait on the wall, and they begin to foxtrot together. They are back in Yenan, dancing to the gramophone…”

Program notes by:

Joseph & Elizabeth Kahn

Wordpros@mindspring.com

www.wordprosmusic.com