John Adams returns to the Barbican Centre in London this weekend for the hall's John Adams Focus series. Adams-related events there began in early February when the Barbican presented a performance of The Wound-Dresser by Thomas Hampson and the New York Philharmonic, led by Alan Gilbert.

The focus on Adams continues with the composer on hand to introduce a special screening of Wonders Are Many, the film documenting the making of his 2005 opera Doctor Atomic, in the Barbican Centre's Cinema 3, on Sunday, followed by the UK premiere that evening of Doctor Atomic Symphony, with the composer leading the London Symphony Orchestra, at Barbican Hall (part of the LSO 2009-2010 series).

Next Thursday, March 11, Adams will lead the orchestra in another first for the European premiere of his latest work, City Noir. The composer has contributed an article to the Times of London that gives some history on the new piece. In the article, Adams begins by examining the relatively short period of time in which the United States, still a relatively young country, has been able to make an artistic name for itself on the world stage. He then takes a look at the unique contribution of his adopted home state of California and, more specifically, Los Angeles, the inspiration for City Noir.

"A curiously Los Angeles creation," Adams explains, "the 'noir' film of the late 1940s and 1950s was an expression of that era’s peculiar postwar angst and uncomfortable national self-awareness, revealing the seamier side of American urban life." He goes on to describe his own City Noir as "a 35-minute symphony that is an imaginary film score, a musical study in cinematic colours and jazz-inflected energy, at times languorous and nocturnal as well as nervous and explosive."

You'll find the article at entertainment.timesonline.co.uk.

Later this month comes another UK premiere, when the St. Lawrence String Quartet performs Adams's String Quartet, at LSO St. Luke's on the 25th. Adams wrote the piece for the St. Lawrence, which gave its world premiere at New York's Juilliard School in January 2009.

This summer, the Barbican and Theatre Royal Stratford East present a new production of John Adams's 1995 music theatre piece I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky on the main stage of the Theatre Royal, from July 2 through 17. Adams describes the piece as "a polyphonic love story in the style of a Shakespeare comedy."

For tickets and more information on all of these events, visit barbican.org. For more on these and other upcoming Adams events, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.