John Adams has joined the faculty of the Royal Academy of Music in London as a Visiting Professor. In 2012, Adams conducted concerts at Lincoln Center and the BBC Proms in which Academy students performed alongside Juilliard School players; in 2015, the Academy gave him an Honorary Doctorate. As part of his new role, he returns to the Academy in 2017 to work with opera students, instrumentalists, and composers. "I'm proud and delighted to spend time with the very talented students of the Royal Academy of Music," he says. "I'll be able to spend time with the young composers, singers and instrumentalists in a relationship that is as fruitful for me as it hopefully will be for the students."
Composer John Adams, whose 70th birthday next week is being celebrated by musicians and venues across the globe all season long, has joined the faculty of the Royal Academy of Music in London as a Visiting Professor. This continues a relationship that began in 2012, when he conducted concerts at New York's Lincoln Center and the BBC Proms in London in which Academy students performed alongside Juilliard School players.
In 2015, the Academy devoted a day to Adams' music, during which he was given an Honorary Doctorate. Most recently, he worked with young composers of the Junior Academy and conducted the Junior Academy Symphony Orchestra. As part of his new role, he returns to the Academy in April 2017 to work with Opera Course students, and later in the year with instrumentalists and composers.
John Adams wrote of the new connection: "I'm proud and delighted to spend time with the very talented students of the Royal Academy of Music. I'll be able to spend time with the young composers, singers and instrumentalists in a relationship that is as fruitful for me as it hopefully will be for the students."
Principal Professor Jonathan Freeman-Attwood said: "John's involvement with the Royal Academy of Music has always been generous and delightful. We've had some memorable times, most recently a day at the end of 2015 celebrating his music and performing Grand Pianola Music under his direction. I'm thrilled that his association with the Academy is strengthened further through this appointment."
James Jolly, editor-in-chief of Gramophone magazine wrote on the occasion of Adams' doctorate: "Adams has given his time selflessly to young musicians, as teacher, mentor and collaborator, as students at the Academy well know. The buzzing energy that marked out the Academy–Juilliard collaboration in 2012 was extraordinary and went hand in hand with the open-hearted joy those students felt at having forged such an inspirational new musical friendship with their conductor, and profound gratitude for John Adams' artistic generosity."
For more information, visit ram.ac.uk.
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