Composer Portrait: Thomas Adès

Name: Composer Portrait: Thomas Adès
Start: 2025-02-11T19:30:00-06:00
Location: The Menil Collection

Schedule

Tue, 11 Feb, 2025 at 07:30 pm

UTC-06:00

Location

The Menil Collection | Houston, TX

World Renowned composer THOMAS ADÈS at The Menil Collection | Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Tacita Dean: Blind Folly
DACAMERA and The Menil Collection welcome distinguished composer Thomas Adès, CBE, in his first Houston appearance. Recognized the world over as one of today’s greatest living composers, Adès is also active as pianist and conductor, having led award-winning performances of his operas The Exterminating Angel and The Tempest at Metropolitan Opera and beyond. His most recent Grammy Award was for The Dante Project, a collaborative ballet with visuals by artist Tacita Dean.
Program
Thomas Adès: Arcadiana for string quartet; Alchymia for clarinet and strings; Piano Quintet
Schubert: Selected works for piano
Janáček: Selected works for piano
Musicians
Thomas Adès, composer and pianist
Calder Quartet (Benjamin Jacobson, violin; Tereza Stanislav, violin; Jonathan Moerschel, viola; Eric Byers, cello)
Andrew Lowy, clarinet
One of today’s pre-eminent composers, Thomas Adès is also active as a pianist, with solo recitals at Carnegie Hall and Wigmore Hall in London. A seven-time Grammy Award nominee and recent winner, Ades’s honors include the prestigious Grawemeyer Award. For this composer portrait, he and an ensemble of champions of his music explore his works for chamber ensemble, and Adès performs music by two of his musical touchstones, Schubert and Janáček. Highlights include Arcadiana with references to Mozart, Schubert Poussin and Watteau, and Alchymia with evocations of Shakespeare, William Byrd and John Dowland. Musical alchemy personified.