---
name: "John Adams"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/john-adams"
fi1m_id: "john-adams"
imdb_id: "nm0011076"
tmdb_id: 142387
wikidata_id: "Q84114"
roles: ["Composer"]
born: "15 February 1947"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 2
average_fi1m_score: 84
average_over: 2
updated: "2026-10-01T21:12:28.028274+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# John Adams

## Identity

John Adams

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/john-adams
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** john-adams
- **IMDb ID:** nm0011076
- **TMDB ID:** 142387
- **Wikidata ID:** Q84114
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Adams_(composer), https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q84114, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0011076/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/142387

Composer. Born 15 February 1947 in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Composer
- **Born:** 15 February 1947, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
- **Active:** 2010–2017
- **Also known as:** John Coolidge Adams
- **Frequently works with:** [Luca Guadagnino](https://film.one/person/luca-guadagnino.md), [Marco Morabito](https://film.one/person/marco-morabito.md)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Adams_(composer), https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q84114, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0011076/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/142387

## Streaming the US now

- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*I Am Love*](https://film.one/film/i-am-love.md) (81)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Biography

John Coolidge Adams is an American composer and conductor. Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, he studied at Harvard University and later taught at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He is noted for operas on historical subjects, including *Nixon in China* (1987) and *Doctor Atomic* (2005), as well as orchestral and chamber works such as *Harmonielehre* (1985) and *On the Transmigration of Souls* (2002).

Adams’s music has been featured in several films directed by Luca Guadagnino, including *I Am Love* (2010) and *Call Me by Your Name* (2017), where pieces such as *Hallelujah Junction* appear on the soundtrack. He has received the Pulitzer Prize for Music, the Grawemeyer Award, and other honours.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (2)

- *Call Me by Your Name* (2017), Fi1m 86, Music — [page](https://film.one/film/call-me-by-your-name.md)
- *I Am Love* (2010), Fi1m 81, Music — [page](https://film.one/film/i-am-love.md)

## Complete filmography (37)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *The Death of Klinghoffer* (2026), Music
- *Nixon In China – Hungarian State Opera* (2024), Music
- *John Adams: Nixon in China* (2023), Original Music Composer
- *Dancing Nation* (2021), series, Music
- *We Are Who We Are* (2020), series, Music
- *The Unanswered Ives - Wunderkind. Wall-Street-Gigant. Klangpionier* (2019), Actor
- *John Adams: Nixon in China* (2019), Original Music Composer
- *Call Me by Your Name* (2017), Music — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/film/call-me-by-your-name.md)
- *John Adams: The Gospel According to the Other Mary* (2017), Original Music Composer
- *John Adams conducts John Adams* (2015), Original Music Composer, Conductor
- *John Adams: Nixon in China* (2012), Original Music Composer
- *John Adams: Nixon in China* (2011), Original Music Composer, Conductor
- *I Am Love* (2010), Music — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/film/i-am-love.md)
- *Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic: The Inaugural Concert* (2009), Original Music Composer
- *Adams: Doctor Atomic* (2008), Original Music Composer
- *John Adams: Doctor Atomic* (2007), Original Music Composer
- *The Death of Klinghoffer* (2003), Original Music Composer, Conductor
- *John Adams: A Portrait and A Concert of Modern American Music* (2000), Original Music Composer, Conductor
- *John Adams: El Niño* (2000), Original Music Composer
- *The American Tapestry* (2000), Original Music Composer
- *Bah, Humbug!: The Story of Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol'* (1994), Music
- *All Out at Sea* (1994), Sound
- *The Cabinet of Dr. Ramirez* (1991), Original Music Composer
- *The World Within: C.G. Jung In His Own Words* (1990), Music
- *Matter of Heart* (1986), Original Music Composer
- *Remembering Jung* (1986), Music
- *Remembering Jung #23-2* (1986), Music
- *Alice in Wonderland* (1983), Music Supervisor
- *Fifth of July* (1982), Music Supervisor
- *Working* (1982), Music Supervisor
- *Tartuffe* (1978), Music
- *Frankenthaler: Toward a New Climate* (1978), Music Supervisor
- *Georgia O'Keeffe* (1977), Music Supervisor
- *Mary Cassatt: Impressionist From Philadelphia* (1977), Music Supervisor
- *Remembering Jung #23-1*, Music
- *Remembering Jung #23-3*, Music
- *Remembering Jung #26*, Music

## Gallery

- ![John Adams](https://film.one/media/person/125688/gallery-4d1ecf2ec344.jpg) John Adams — The original uploader was Macror at English Wikipedia.

(Original text: Deborah O'Grady), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/JA-portrait-1-LW.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![On Saturday, May 25, The U.S. Army Blues performed as part of the Library of Congress Concert Series, held at the Atlas Theater in Washington, DC. The final con (2013)](https://film.one/media/person/125688/gallery-7b203f5d7133.jpg) On Saturday, May 25, The U.S. Army Blues performed as part of the Library of Congress Concert Series, held at the Atlas Theater in Washington, DC. The final con (2013) — The United States Army Band, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/09/CMB9204_%288881458785%29.jpg/1280px-CMB9204_%288881458785%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![On Saturday, May 25, The U.S. Army Blues performed as part of the Library of Congress Concert Series, held at the Atlas Theater in Washington, DC. The final con (2013)](https://film.one/media/person/125688/gallery-24a87b497333.jpg) On Saturday, May 25, The U.S. Army Blues performed as part of the Library of Congress Concert Series, held at the Atlas Theater in Washington, DC. The final con (2013) — The United States Army Band, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/ba/CMB9216_%288881457361%29.jpg/1280px-CMB9216_%288881457361%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![On Saturday, May 25, The U.S. Army Blues performed as part of the Library of Congress Concert Series, held at the Atlas Theater in Washington, DC. The final con (2013)](https://film.one/media/person/125688/gallery-b99ce8f7ef95.jpg) On Saturday, May 25, The U.S. Army Blues performed as part of the Library of Congress Concert Series, held at the Atlas Theater in Washington, DC. The final con (2013) — The United States Army Band, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/98/CMB9235_%288882077906%29.jpg/1280px-CMB9235_%288882077906%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![John Adams](https://film.one/media/person/125688/gallery-0ed337f54806.jpg) John Adams — Image via TMDB
- ![John Adams](https://film.one/media/person/125688/gallery-c33be93a6182.jpg) John Adams — Image via TMDB
- ![John Adams](https://film.one/media/person/125688/gallery-b63beeab684a.jpg) John Adams — Image via TMDB
- ![On Saturday, May 25, The U.S. Army Blues performed as part of the Library of Congress Concert Series, held at the Atlas Theater in Washington, DC. The final con (2013)](https://film.one/media/person/125688/gallery-a057fe82cbae.jpg) On Saturday, May 25, The U.S. Army Blues performed as part of the Library of Congress Concert Series, held at the Atlas Theater in Washington, DC. The final con (2013) — The United States Army Band, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cf/CMB_7533_%288881452099%29.jpg/1280px-CMB_7533_%288881452099%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![On Saturday, May 25, The U.S. Army Blues performed as part of the Library of Congress Concert Series, held at the Atlas Theater in Washington, DC. The final con (2013)](https://film.one/media/person/125688/gallery-db162d2ed880.jpg) On Saturday, May 25, The U.S. Army Blues performed as part of the Library of Congress Concert Series, held at the Atlas Theater in Washington, DC. The final con (2013) — The United States Army Band, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8b/CMB_7540_%288882072740%29.jpg/1280px-CMB_7540_%288882072740%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![John Adams](https://film.one/media/person/125688/gallery-282a666924ab.jpg) John Adams — Image via TMDB
- ![John Adams](https://film.one/media/person/125688/gallery-22b92349d02d.jpg) John Adams — Image via TMDB
- ![John Adams](https://film.one/media/person/125688/gallery-5aeb793a94f0.jpg) John Adams — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### Other awards — 9 won, 2 nominated

- Dresdner Musikfestspiel-Preis 2021: Dresdner Musikfestspiel-Preis (won)
- Erasmus Prize 2019: Erasmus Prize (won)
- Officer of Arts and Letters 2015: Officer of Arts and Letters (won)
- Pulitzer Prize for Music 2014: Pulitzer Prize for Music (nominated), for *The Gospel According to the Other Mary*
- Pulitzer Prize for Music 2003: Pulitzer Prize for Music (won), for *On the Transmigration of Souls*
- Pulitzer Prize for Music 1998: Pulitzer Prize for Music (nominated), for *Century Rolls*
- Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 1997: Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (won)
- Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition 1995: Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition (won)
- Grawemeyer Awards 1995: Grawemeyer Awards (won)
- Royal Philharmonic Society Award (Chamber-Scale Composition) 1994: Royal Philharmonic Society Award (Chamber-Scale Composition) (won), for *Chamber Symphony*
- Grammy Awards 1989: Grammy Awards (won)

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/john-adams