After the pianist, Vikingur Olafsson, asked for a concerto over beers, the composer, John Adams, wrote “After ... covered from floor to ceiling with images that have meant something to him.

When John Adams was asked to write ... terrorist attacks or a communal cry of pain. Adams has created music both rooted in a specific event and relevant to any time, and its emotional power ...

One of my favorite moments in John Adams’ 2008 autobiography Hallelujah Junction comes when Adams, as a teenager on the East Coast, decides to sit next to Duke Ellington on his piano bench — while ...