Ravinia 2026 Issue 2

Music for On the Transmigration of Souls , a threnody written for the first anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Towers. Adams’s alma mater honored him with the Centennial Medal of the Graduate School of Arts and Science (2004), the Harvard Arts Med- al (2007), and an honorary doctorate (2012). Northwestern University awarded Adams the inaugural Michael Ludwig Nemmers Prize in Music Composition (2004) and an honorary doctorate (2008). Adams also has received hon- orary doctorates fromDuquesne University, The Juilliard School, Royal Academy of Music, Uni- versity of Cambridge, and Yale University; a proclamation for distinguished service to the arts from then-Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger; the 2009 National Endowment for the Arts Opera Award; the 2019 Erasmus Prize, becoming the first American to be hon- ored for “exceptional contribution to the hu- manities, the social sciences or the arts, in Eu- rope and beyond”; and the 2021 Ditson Conductor’s Award from Columbia University. Stylistically, Adams has been associated with Minimalist composers (Philip Glass, Steve Reich, and Terry Riley), though, in actuality, his music has grown beyond Minimalism’s repetition of musical fragments, unvarying pulse, and con- sonant harmonic language based primarily on major triads and chords. Adams described his approach to composition in an interview with Jonathan Cott (June 1985): “I don’t develop my materials—I don’t work with identifiable motifs, so much as with forward motion that’s colored by its harmonic atmosphere. And I use large, powerful blocks—perhaps I should say ‘images,’ since I think that my music is more pictorial or cinematographic than it is developmental.” Adams found inspiration for Short Ride in a Fast Machine in a “white-knuckle, anxious” ride in a fancy Italian sports car. He composed this “fan- fare for orchestra” for the opening of the Great Woods Festival in Mansfield, MA, on June 13, 1986. Michael Tilson Thomas conducted the Pittsburgh Symphony in the world premiere on John Adams in the 1980s that occasion. The music opens with the wood- block marking a steady pulse. Clarinets, synthe- sizers, and brass enter with opposing rhythmic patterns that continue as the strings and drum enter. The brass and tambourine play a contrast- ing theme, then the full orchestra resumes the opening materials. A brass chorale (horn bells in the air) drives to a full-throttle conclusion. “Part of the fun of Short Ride in a Fast Machine is making these large instruments—the tuba and double basses and contrabassoon, the entire brass section—move,” Adams explained in an interview. “They have to boogie through this very resolute and inflexible pulse that is set up by the woodblock. And it’s only at the very end of the piece when the woodblock finally stops that the orchestra suddenly feels free as if it’s the third stage of a rocket that’s finally broken loose of earth’s gravity and allowed to float. And it’s at that moment that we hear the triumphant, real fanfare music in the trumpets and horns.” In addition to the full orchestral score, there are versions for concert band, four-hands piano, wind ensemble, and electroacoustic chamber ensemble. JOHNWILLIAMS (b. 1932) Concerto for Piano and Orchestra Scored for three flutes, alto flute, and piccolo, two oboes and English horn, three clarinets and bass clarinet, three bassoons and contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, two glockenspiels, xylophone, two vibraphones, marimba, triangle (small), suspended cymbals (high, medium high, medium), tam- tam (medium), tuned drums, bass drum, harp, piano, celesta, strings, and solo piano Mention the name John Williams, and audi- ences around the world think immediately of blockbuster film scores, richly layered orches- trations, and onscreen characters whose per- sonalities remain imprinted on distinctive melodies. Some people might highlight his five Academy Awards, three Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, seven British Academy Film Awards, 10 Saturn Awards, and 27 Gram- my Awards. His seemingly endless list of honors includes four honorary doctorates, the Kennedy Center Honors, the Ken Burns and American Film Institute Lifetime Achievement Awards, Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts, an Hon- orary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, and induction into the Song- writers, Hollywood Bowl, and American Clas- sical Music Halls of Fame. His distinguished tenure as principal conductor of the Boston Pops (he became Conductor Laureate in 1993) and guest conducting engagements with leading orchestras such as the Boston and Chicago Sym- phony Orchestras and Los Angeles and New York Philharmonics also deserve recognition. The role of pianist, which ignited Williams’s multifaceted, 70-plus-year career, has often been overshadowed by his list of amazing accolades. Growing up in Flushing, Queens, Williams gravitated to the upright piano in the basement of the family home. His parents eventually purchased an Altenburg piano for the living room, where Williams and his sister Joan took lessons and practiced. “My sister was always a better player than I was. … She was always more serious.” Their first teacher was pianist, composer, arranger, and songwriter Ja- cob Louis Merkur, a member of the CBS Radio Orchestra along with Williams’s father Johnny. The family relocated to California in 1947, and Williams began lessons with Russian pianist Sara Compinsky, then with Robert “Bobby” Van Eps, a classically trained pianist in the MGM music department and the author of The Physics of Piano Technique . His ambition to become a classical pianist crystalized during high school. Williams devoted every waking hour to music. “You can be a great pianist,” Van Eps would say. “You can be a great musician.” After graduat- ing high school, Williams studied music at the University of California at Los Angeles for one semester before transferring to Los Angeles City College. His first substantial musical composi- tion—a piano sonata—dates from this period. Williams enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1951 during an escalation in the Korean War, serving as pianist, bassist, conductor, and ar- ranger for the US Air Force Band. After basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Anto- nio, TX, he was stationed at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, AZ, as a member of the 775th Air Force Band. In March 1954, Williams transferred to March Air Force Base in River- side, CA, and joined the 523rd Air Force Band (now the USAF Band of the Golden West at Tra- vis Air Force Base near Fairfield, CA). He also began studying composition privately with the well-known Italian composer Mario Castelnuo- vo-Tedesco. After completing his four-year en- listment, Williams pursued a long-held dream of studying piano with renowned pedagogue Rosina Lhévinne in New York City. While in New York City, Williams filled his spare time playing with jazz combos and dance bands, as well as playing in the pit band for Harry Be- lafonte’s revue 3 for Tonight . He returned to Los Angeles during the summer of 1955, made his first professional recordings as a pianist for Be- lafonte, and continued to study with Lhévinne, who taught summers at the Los Angeles Con- servatory. One day, Lhévinne asked Williams what else he did. “I do some orchestration.” Without dropping a beat, his teacher respond- ed, “Well that’s fantastic. If you can orchestrate, that’s what you should do.” Her frank comment ended any thought of a concert pianist career, but also opened the door toward something even more glorious. From that point forward, Williams shifted his creative focus to a new instrument—the orchestra—whose endlessly RAVINIAMAGAZINE • JULY 20 – AUGUST 2 , 2026 94