Dawn Upshaw joined violinist Geoff Nutall for the European premiere of Kurtág's Kafka Fragments at the Barbican in London last week, directed by Peter Sellars. The Guardian gave it four stars, citing "Upshaw's emotional honesty and gripping presentation of music that tests a soprano's technique." She joins another Sellars collaborator, John Adams, in performances of Adams's El Niño with the San Francisco Symphony, led by the composer, in early December.

John Adams's Slonimsky's Earbox will open the LA Philharmonic's January 9 concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. It's the first of three concerts that will be broadcast live to movie theaters across North America as part of LA Phil LIVE. Also on the program are works by Bernstein and Beethoven. In a video posted here, LA Phil Music Director Gustavo Dudamel calls it "a program with a lot of spirit and a lot of energy and a lot of joy."

The new film I Am Love, featuring the music of John Adams, has now opened in movie theaters across the US, with still more to be added in the coming weeks. The Huffington Post says that wonderful as it is, what "was truly powerful was the music used in the film." The Arts Desk calls the soundtrack album "an excellent single CD introduction to one of our greatest modern composers," complete with "impulsive, inventive and melodically rich post-systems gems."

The film I Am Love features the music of John Adams, which plays an important role in the "sumptuous, operatic, and swooning" film, says NPR's Fresh Air. Director Luca Guadagnino "suffuses everything with beauty, be it Yorick Le Saux's fluid cinematography, the richly textured music by John Adams or the outfits especially designed for Swinton by Jil Sander and Fendi." Variety features an article about the director's love of Adams's music. The Epoch Times praises the soundtrack as a "collection of some powerful music by an important voice in American music."

The Barbican joins the Theatre Royal Stratford East in presenting a two-week run of performances of John Adams's 1995 music theatre piece I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky at the Theatre Royal, opening tonight. The BBC previews the production, saying: "John Adams is arguably America's unofficial national composer." The London Philharmonic performs his Doctor Atomic Symphony at London's Royal Festival Hall.

John Adams's music serves as soundtrack for the new film I Am Love. The BBC calls the album "one of those rare soundtracks that merits—and rewards—repeated listening." The Philadelphia Daily News gives the album an A-, citing "John Adams's brilliant score." The San Jose Mercury News, says the "music considerably adds to the grandness and sweep" of the film; the Chicago Tribune includes it among the elements making I Am Love "a film whose texture and atmosphere and fragrances stay with you."

I Am Love, the new film from director Luca Guadagnino, starring Tilda Swinton and featuring the music of John Adams, has opened in New York and Los Angeles. Guadagnino tells the Los Angeles Times: "His music was so powerful and many scenes were written with it in mind." Adams spoke with the Washington Post, which calls the composer "one this country's most distinguished and most talented artists," his music "beautifully crafted, endlessly engaging and has won over audiences throughout the world."

The soundtrack for I Am Love, the new film from director Luca Guadagnino and actress Tilda Swinton, featuring music by John Adams, is out today on Nonesuch, one day before the film's red-carpet premiere gala in New York City. The filmmakers discuss their use of Adams' music in the Wall Street Journal. The Observer notes: "Whether or not you see the film, this soundtrack is a rewarding digest of the Pulitzer-winner's musical styles."

John Adams's music has been the subject of much public attention of late, in a The Kennedy Center focus, as score to the new film I Am Love, and in Gustavo Dudamel’s first US tour with the LA Philharmonic, which included Adams's City Noir. Adams, in his Hell Mouth blog, muses on the often difficult transition between the public and private life of a creative public figure.

As Perspectives: John Adams continues at The Kennedy Center, Nonesuch announces the June 15 release of the soundtrack to the film I Am Love, featuring Adams's music. A ten-year labor of love from director Luca Guadagnino and actress Tilda Swinton, I Am Love was directed and produced with Adams's music in mind. The Times of London, in a five-star film review, notes its "sublime score." The film opens in the US on June 18.

John Adams led a rare performance of Louis Andriessen's De Staat in Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall on Monday. The New York Times says "it was a thrill to hear the adventurous players of Ensemble ACJW perform" the piece, calling Adams "an inspired advocate" for Andriessen. The Philadelphia Inquirer writes, after the previous day's performance in Philadelphia, that what is "so astonishing" about De Staat after almost 35 years, "is that it seems ... so completely up to date."

John Adams begins two weeks' of events on the East Coast with a concert in Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall tonight, leading Ensemble ACJW in his Son of Chamber Symphony and Louis Andriessen's De Staat. The Kennedy Center launches John Adams: Perspectives, a two-week celebration of his music, featuring concerts with the NSO, discussions, a film screening, and book signings of his memoir, Hallelujah Junction, from which Adams will read at the Library of Congress.