John Adams

John Adams grew up in New England, born in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1947, learning clarinet from his father and playing in local bands before studying at Harvard. In 1971 he drove west to San Francisco, took a teaching job at the conservatory there, and has been a California composer ever since.

He made his name by loosening up minimalism, the style built from small repeating patterns, letting it swell into big romantic waves of orchestral sound. He also brought opera into the news cycle: Nixon in China, from 1987, turns Richard Nixon's 1972 diplomatic trip into theater, treating recent history as the stuff of myth. His orchestral works have become some of the most performed concert music by any living American composer.

Start with Short Ride in a Fast Machine, four exhilarating minutes that do what the title says, then Harmonielehre, a symphony in all but name that opens with a volley of hammering E minor chords.