Nonesuch releases John Adams's Scheherazade.2 on September 30, 2016. The 50-minute "dramatic symphony" was written for the violinist Leila Josefowicz, who performs it here with the St. Louis Symphony led by Music Director David Robertson; Chester Englander is the cimbalom soloist. In the piece, Adams imagines a modern day Scheherazade, an "empowered, liberated spirit embodied in the multifaceted solo violin role," he says. "Scheherazade.2 is also a virtuoso romantic symphony-concerto on the grand scale which acknowledges its predecessors in works by Sibelius, Prokofiev, Bartók, and Berg." He and Josefowicz will perform Scheherazade.2 with orchestras in Europe this fall.

Composer John Adams and director/librettist Peter Sellars are joining forces once again to create Girls of the Golden West, a new opera set during the 1850s California Gold Rush to be presented by San Francisco Opera at the War Memorial Opera House in seven performances in November 2017. The opera is being co-commissioned and co-produced by San Francisco Opera, The Dallas Opera, Amsterdam's Dutch National Opera, and Teatro La Fenice, Venice. This premiere will be a part of the John Adams at 70 celebrations, featuring performances of his work around the world throughout 2017.

The Barbican Centre in London has announced a year-long festival to celebrate the music of composers Steve Reich and Philip Glass, as they turn 80, and John Adams, as he turns 70, during its 2016–17 season. The series, Reich, Glass, Adams: the Sounds that Changed America, begins with a weekend of Reich's music on November 5, 2016; Adams is celebrated in a series of concerts of some of his major works from December 2016 to April 2017, featuring the composer also as a conductor; and Glass is celebrated January 27–29, 2017. Tickets go on sale online to Barbican Members Plus starting Monday, February 1 and the general public on February 10. 

John Adams and Jeremy Denk will take part in a new weekend festival at the Barbican in London: Sound Unbound: The Barbican Classical Weekender, October 31 and November 1, 2015. This event will take over the Barbican Centre and surrounding venues featuring over 50 concerts across 48 hours in different locations, with performances from Jeremy Denk, a concert from the London Symphony Orchestra led by John Adams, and music by Adams, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Beethoven, Mozart, and more. Tickets go on sale Friday, July 17.

John Adams is the subject of a new short video from the BBC Radio 3 series Great Composers with Tom Service, in which Service gives an exuberant primer on the composer. "John Adams is the composer who wants it all—the 'pulse' of the American minimalists and the voluptuous harmonic sensuality of Wagner and Mahler's late Romanticism," Service explains. "Warning: his music is addictive. Have a good time with John Adams!" Watch it here.

Cal Performances at the University of California, Berkeley, has announced its 2015–16 concert season, the organization's 110th, which will feature performances from artists and works by composers familiar to readers of the Nonesuch Journal: Kronos Quartet, Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club, Youssou N'Dour, John Adams, Timo Andres, and Jacob Cooper.

John Adams's latest work, Scheherazade.2, receives its world premiere in performances by the NY Philharmonic, led by Alan Gilbert, at Avery Fisher Hall in NYC this Thursday through Saturday, March 26–28. This "dramatic symphony" for violin and orchestra was written for the violinist Leila Josefowicz, who will perform the piece with the Philharmonic. In the piece, Adams reflects on the hardship and unfair treatment of women throughout history, with the violinist representing the legendary Scheherazade. Also on this week's program are Lyadov's The Enchanted Lake and Stravinsky's Petrushka. Each performance will be preceded by a pre-concert talk with the composer.

Congratulations to John Adams, Chris Thile, and Edgar Meyer, all winners at the 57th Grammy Awards, held in Los Angeles last night. Adams's City Noir won the Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance for the St. Louis Symphony and conductor David Robertson, featuring saxophonist Timothy McAllister. Thile and Meyer's duo album, Bass & Mandolin, won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album. 

John Adams's album City Noir has made NPR's list of the Ten Best Classical Albums of 2014. "[T]here was such a bounty of phenomenal albums released this year that the selection process was a joy," writes NPR's Anastasia Tsioulcas. She calls saxophonist Timothy McAllister "outstanding" and says "the performances by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, led by David Robertson, are invigorating and top-notch." The New York Times's Anthony Tommasini includes The Met's production of Adams's The Death of Klinghoffer among the Ten Best Classical Music Events of 2014, calling it "a searing yet ruminative work."

Congratulations to all of the Nonesuch artists who were nominated for the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, announced earlier today by The Recording Academy: The Black Keys, Nickel Creek, Chris Thile & Edgar Meyer, John Adams, and Brad Mehldau. Together, these artists' Nonesuch releases have garnered a total of 11 nominations this year. The 57th Annual Grammy Awards will be held on "Grammy Sunday," February 8, 2015, in Los Angeles and will be broadcast live on CBS. 

Composer John Adams's 1991 opera The Death of Klinghoffer received its Metropolitan Opera premiere last night, the first of eight Met performances during the 2014–15 season. The opera, with a libretto by Alice Goodman, was originally directed by frequent Adams collaborator Peter Sellars. It addresses the 1985 hijacking of the Achille Lauro ocean liner and the murder of a Jewish-American passenger, Leon Klinghoffer, by Palestinian terrorists. Nonesuch Records released the first recording of The Death of Klinghoffer, with the Orchestra of the Opéra de Lyon, in 1992. Here, Nonesuch President Robert Hurwitz offers his reflections on the piece and some background about the 1992 recording

John Adams's 1991 opera The Death of Klinghoffer receives its Metropolitan Opera premiere tonight, the first of eight performances during the Met's 2014–15 season. This is the third Adams work to be staged at the Met, following Doctor Atomic and Nixon in China. The production is directed by Tom Morris, with David Robertson conducting and baritone Paulo Szot starring in the leading role.