Adams, John Coolidge (1947– )

US composer and conductor. He was director of the New Music Ensemble 1972–81, artistic adviser to the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra 1978–85, and Creative Chair of the St Paul Chamber Orchestra 1987–90. His minimalist techniques are displayed in Electric Wake (1968), Heavy Metal (1971), Light over Water (1983), Harmonielehre (1984–85), My Father knew Charles Ives (2003), and the operas Nixon in China (1987), The Death of Klinghoffer (1991), and El Niño (1999). His work On the Transmigration of Souls (2002, Pulitzer Prize) was written to commemorate the loss of life in the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on New York City.

He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1997.