Programme Index

Discover 11,128,835 listings and 279,749 playable programmes from the BBC

Composer of the Week

John Adams (1947-)

Episode 1: West Coast

Duration: 1 hour

First broadcast: on BBC Radio 3Latest broadcast: on BBC Radio 3

Donald Macleod talks this week to America's most frequently performed living composer, John Adams, about his work. In today's programme they look at pieces influenced by life on the West Coast, from one of his earliest works, Shaker Loops, written in a beach house in San Francisco, to a symphony written in his current studio in the mountains, surrounded by giant redwoods. Adams discusses his reasons for setting out on a journey west, in an unreliable Volkswagen Beetle, from Harvard to California in 1971, and what kept him there - from the dramatic coastline to the cultural life he found there. Show less

About this data

This data is drawn from the data stream that informs BBC's iPlayer and Sounds. The information shows what was scheduled to be broadcast, meaning it was/is subject to change and may not be accurate. More