Renowned as both composer and performer, Thomas Adès works regularly with the world’s leading orchestras, opera companies and festivals. His compositions include three operas: the most recent of which, The Exterminating Angel, premiered at the 2016 Salzburg Festival and subsequently has been performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the Royal Opera House, London, all conducted by the composer; The Tempest at the Royal Opera House and Metropolitan Opera, and Powder Her Face.
His orchestral works include Asyla (City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, 1997), Tevot (Berlin Philharmonic and Carnegie Hall, 2007), Polaris (New World Symphony, Miami 2011), violin concerto Concentric Paths (Berliner Festspiele and the BBC Proms, 2005), In Seven Days (piano concerto with moving image, LA Phil and RFH London, 2008), Totentanz for mezzo-soprano, baritone and orchestra (BBC Proms, 2013), and Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (Boston Symphony Orchestra, 2019). His compositions also include numerous chamber and solo works.
Since 2016, Adès has been an artistic partner of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and conducts the orchestra in Boston and at Tanglewood, performs chamber music with the orchestra players and leads the summer Festival of Contemporary Music. He also regularly coaches piano and chamber music at the International Musicians Seminar, Prussia Cove.
As a conductor, Adès appears regularly with the Los Angeles and London philharmonic orchestras, San Francisco Symphony, the Boston, London, BBC, Finnish Radio and City of Birmingham symphony orchestras, the Royal Concertgebouw, Leipzig Gewandhaus and the Orchestra of Santa Cecilia. In opera, in addition to The Exterminating Angel, he has conducted The Rake’s Progress at the Royal Opera House and the Zürich Opera, The Tempest at the Metropolitan Opera and Vienna State Opera, and Gerald Barry’s latest opera, Alice’s Adventures Under Ground in Los Angeles (world premiere), and in London (European premiere).
Recent and future highlights include his conducting the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Vienna Philharmonic, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra and Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. In 2021-22, he conducted the world premiere of his ballet The Dante Project at the Royal Opera House, choreographed by Wayne McGregor.
His piano engagements have included solo recitals at Carnegie Hall (Stern Auditorium) in New York and the Wigmore Hall in London, and concerto appearances with the New York Philharmonic and Boston Symphony Orchestra. Recent piano releases include an album solo piano music by Janáček and a live album of Winterreise with Ian Bostridge.
His many honors include the Grawemeyer Award for Asyla (1999); Royal Philharmonic Society large-scale composition awards for Asyla, The Tempest and Tevot; Ernst von Siemens Composers Prize for Arcadiana, and British Composer Award for The Four Quarters. His EMI recording of The Tempest at the Royal Opera House won the contemporary category of the 2010 Gramophone Awards. His DVD of the Metropolitan Opera production was awarded the 2013 Diapason d’Or, the 2014 Grammy for best opera recording and the 2014 ECHO Klassik Award for best music DVD. The Exterminating Angel won the World Premiere of the Year at the 2017 International Opera Awards. In 2015, he was awarded the prestigious Léonie Sonning Music Prize.
July 2021
