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Personalities | Thomas Adès | Contemporary | Classical

(To’-mas Ad-ez’) b. 1971
English composer

Widely considered the leading British composer born since 1970, Adès rose to prominence a few years after graduating from Cambridge with the chamber opera Powder Her Face (based on the 1960s sex scandal involving the Duchess of Argyll), and a succession of exuberant and vividly scored instrumental works, notably the orchestral Asyla, written for the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle (who later commissioned Tevot for the Berlin Philharmonic). His second opera, The Tempest, was produced at Covent Garden in 2004. Adès is also active as a pianist and a conductor; from 1999 to 2008 he was artistic director of the Aldeburgh Festival, founded by Britten.

Recommended Recording:
Violin Concerto, Tevot, Dances from ‘Powder Her Face’, Chamber Orchestra of Europe (cond) Thomas Adès, Berlin PO (cond) Sir Simon Rattle (EMI/Warner)

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

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