In Sunday’s (3/6) Los Angeles Times, Matthew Erikson writes, “International fame just doesn’t happen to many classical composers. But when it does, it can strike like a runaway train. Consider Thomas Adès. … Two years ago, when noises were first being made for coordinated festivities in different musical capitals to observe his 40th birthday, the British composer said that he felt a bit trapped. … Adès turned down the idea of a grand musical retrospective, instead spending his birthday on March 1 with friends and family in his native London. Less lofty and better suited, he believes, to his personal tastes as a musical collaborator and curator is the upcoming Los Angeles Philharmonic festival ‘Aspects of Adès.’ Programmed and put together by the composer, ‘Aspects of Adès’ begins on March 14 with the first of five programs at Walt Disney Concert Hall. While his prodigious talents as a composer, pianist and conductor will be displayed with performances of two of his newest compositions, Adès shares the festival with world premieres by other composers, most notably, a new opera by Irish composer Gerald Barry. Adès will lead the L.A. Phil in three subscription programs, including its first-ever performance of Olivier Messiaen’s vast and visionary ‘Éclairs sur l’au-delà’ (‘Illuminations of the Beyond’).”
Posted March 7, 2011
