"Adès" redirects here. For other uses, see
Adès (surname).
Thomas Joseph Edmund AdèsCBE (born 1 March 1971) is a British composer, pianist and conductor. Five compositions by Adès received votes in the 2017 Classic Voice poll of the greatest works of
art music since 2000: The Tempest (2004),
Violin Concerto (2005), Tevot (2007), In Seven Days (2008), and Polaris (2010).[1]
In 2007, a retrospective festival of Adès's work was presented at the
Barbican Arts Centre in London and he was the focus of
Radio France's annual contemporary music festival, "Présences", and Helsinki's "Musica Nova" festival. The Barbican festival, "Traced Overhead: The Musical World of Thomas Adès", included the UK premiere of a new work for
Simon Rattle and the
Berlin Philharmonic, Tevot. Journalist
Tom Service wrote of the piece, "Of any piece of new music I've heard at its premiere, this is one of the most immediately, richly powerful."[6] In the spring of 2007, The Tempest returned to the
Royal Opera House.
In 2009, Adès was the focus of Stockholm Concert Hall's annual Composer Festival, and in 2010 he was appointed foreign member of the
Royal Swedish Academy of Music.
On 8 October 2015, Adès was elected into the Board of Directors of the European Academy of Music Theatre.[7]
Adès won an
Ivor Novello Award at The Ivors Classical Awards 2023.[9]Növények, for mezzo-soprano and piano sextet won the award for Best Chamber Ensemble Composition.[10][11]
commissioned for the
New York Philharmonic Orchestra's Millennium Messages in November 1999 and it received its UK premiere at the
Aldeburgh Festival in June 2000. A recording of the work is available on EMI Classics (2004).
for orchestra, was premiered in Berlin by Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic on 21 February 2007, and received its American premiere as part of the Berlin in Lights Festival at
Carnegie Hall.
for mezzo-soprano, baritone, and large orchestra, commissioned by Robin Boyle and dedicated to
Witold Lutosławski and his wife Danuta, was premiered on 7 July 2013 by the BBC Symphony Orchestra as part of that year's BBC Proms.
Adès's 1995
chamber opera with a libretto by
Philip Hensher, won both good reviews and notoriety for its musical depiction of
fellatio. The opera was commissioned by
Almeida Opera Festival, London, and has since been given new productions around the world. The Duchess depicted in the opera is the
Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll whose scandalous behaviour in Britain in the early 1960s was revealed during a divorce trial with the introduction into evidence of photographs of her various sexual acts. Adès's "Concert Paraphrase" on Powder Her Face for solo piano was premiered by the composer for the Vancouver Recital Society on 14 March 2010 in Vancouver; the work was co-commissioned by the VRS, San Francisco Performances, and the Barbican Centre in London.
with a libretto by
Meredith Oakes adapted from
Shakespeare's play, was premiered to critical acclaim at the
Royal Opera House,
Covent Garden London in February 2004, followed by performances at the
Strasbourg Opera and the
Copenhagen Opera House in 2005. Its US premiere was by the
Santa Fe Opera in July 2006. The original production was revived by the
Royal Opera House London in March 2007 to acclaim. A production by
Frankfurt Opera, staged by
Keith Warner and conducted by
Johannes Debus in January 2010 was the first in Germany.[19]EMI's recording of the Covent Garden performance of The Tempest won Adès the title of Composer of the Year in the 2010
Classical BRIT Awards.[20] The Metropolitan Opera, New York, included The Tempest in its 2012–13 season, conducted by Adès and produced by
Robert Lepage.[21][22] The same production was seen in Vienna in the summer of 2015.
a cappella choral composition. Written originally for King's College, Cambridge, 1997, the piece has been recorded by ensembles such as the
BBC Singers and also the City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus. The work received its U.S. West Coast premiere by
International Orange Chorale of San Francisco.
Chamber music
Five Eliot Landscapes
Adès's first opus, published in 1990.
Arcadiana
a seven-movement, 20-minute
string quartet (Op. 12), was recorded in 1998 along with other work from the 1993 to 1994 period.[24]
Cardiac Arrest
a work for chamber ensemble of 7 players. The piece is based on song by Madness. It received its premiere at Meltdown,
Purcell Room, London in 1995 by Composers Ensemble.[25]
Catch
a chamber work for clarinet, piano, violin and violincello. It premiered in 1993 at St George's, Brandon Hill, Bristol by Lynsey Marsh, Anthony Marwood, Louise Hopkins and Thomas Adès.[26]
Chamber Symphony
a work for 15 players, Chamber Symphony lasts approximately 13 minutes and was given its first performance at the Cambridge Festival of Contemporary Music, West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge by Contemporary Music Festival Ensemble under the baton of Thomas Adès in 1991.[27]
Concerto Conciso
a work for piano and chamber ensemble (10 players). The piece was given its premiere at the Adrian Boult Hall, Birmingham by the
Birmingham Contemporary Music Group under Thomas Adès in 1997.[28]
Court Studies
this chamber work for clarinet, violin, cello and piano lasts approximately 8 minutes and was given its premiere in 2005 at the Jubilee Hall, Aldeburgh Festival by the Composers Ensemble.[29]
Four Quarters
this string quartet was commissioned by the Carnegie Hall Corporation, and, was premiered in 2011 at Stern Auditorium,
Carnegie Hall, New York by the
Emerson String Quartet.[30]
Les baricades mistérieuses
for clarinet, bass clarinet, viola, cello and double bass. Written for Wilfred Mellers's 80th birthday, it was first performed at Dartington International Summer School's Great Hall by The Composers Ensemble in 1994.[31]
Lieux retrouvés
for cello and piano. Co-commissioned by the Aldeburgh Festival,
Wigmore Hall and Carnegie Hall. First performed at Aldeburgh Festival,
Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Suffolk by
Steven Isserlis and Thomas Adès in 2009;[32] 2016 BBC Proms UK premiere of version for orchestra
Life Story
a work for soprano and chamber ensemble of 3 players, Life Story is set to
Tennessee Williams's text. It was written for The Composers Ensemble and received its first performance in 1993 at West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge University.[33]
for chamber ensemble of 14 players. The work was commissioned by the Arts Council of Great Britain for the
London Sinfonietta. Conducted by
Oliver Knussen, the work was premièred in 1994 at the
Barbican Hall, London.[34]
The Origin of the Harp
a chamber ensemble work for 10 players was commissioned by the
Halle Orchestra. It began life in 1994 at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester under the baton of the composer himself.[35]
Piano Quintet
premièred at the 2001 Melbourne Festival, Australia by Thomas Adès (piano) and the Arditti Quartet. Recording of the work with Adès at the piano and the
Arditti Quartet (released in 2005 by
EMI with
Schubert's Trout Quintet – with Adès and the
Belcea Quartet).[36]
Other musical activities
In 1993, at age 22, Adès gave his first public piano recital in London as part of the Park Lane Group series of recitals.
Adès was the first Music Director of the
Birmingham Contemporary Music Group from 1998 to 2000.[37] He served as Artistic Director of the
Aldeburgh Festival from 1999 to 2008, succeeded in 2009 by the pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard.
The U.S. West Coast premiere of "Asyla," with Sir Simon Rattle conducting the
Los Angeles Philharmonic
"Darkness Visible" and "Still Sorrowing" performed by pianist
Gloria Cheng
"These Premises are Alarmed" conducted by Rattle with the Los Angeles Philharmonic
He is also a pianist, having been a runner-up in the
BBC's
Young Musician of the Year competition in 1990. EMI has released a CD of Adès as a solo performer, "Thomas Adès: Piano", and several CDs as an accompanist, frequently with
Ian Bostridge,
Steven Isserlis and others. As a student Adès was a percussionist, at one point playing percussion in
Stravinsky's "
Les noces" under Sir Simon Rattle.
Adés is the Deborah and Philip Edmundson artistic partner with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a position he has held for three years, 2018/2019, 2019/2020, and 2020/2021. The position was created specifically for him.[38]
Recordings
DVD
Powder Her Face was made into a film by
Channel 4 and shown on Christmas Day 1999 in the UK. The film was released on DVD in the UK for Christmas 2005, including a
documentary film about Adès made by Gerald Fox in 1999. It is also available in the US.
Asyla (along with
Mahler's 5th Symphony) formed Sir
Simon Rattle's opening concert with the Berlin Philharmonic. The two concerts given were recorded and released as a DVD in 2002.
"The Tempest": the Metropolitan Opera production from 2012, conducted by Adès, was issued on DG. Prospero: Simon Keenlyside; Ariel: Audrey Luna; Caliban: Alan Oke; Miranda: Isabel Leonard; Ferdinand: Alek Shrader; King of Naples: William Burden; Antonio: Tony Spence; Stefano: Kevin Burdette; Trinculo: Iestyn Davies; Sebastian: Christopher Feigum; Gonzalo: John Del Carlo. The production was by Robert Lepage. Winner of the 2014
Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording.