F. John Adams was Conductor of the Holden Choruses from 1970 to 1978, during which time he prepared choruses for Leonard Bernstein, Michael Tilson Thomas, Erich Leinsdorf, Mstislav Rostropovich, and William Steinberg. He served on the faculty of Harvard University as Lecturer on Music from 1972 to 1978. He co-founded and served as music director of the Boston Classical Orchestra from 1980 to 1983, and was assistant conductor of Boston Lyric Opera’s Ring Cycle in 1983. In 1983 he joined the faculty of the New England Conservatory where he taught until 2007. He was assistant conductor of the Rhode Island Philharmonic from 1994 to 1996 and was also artistic director of its youth orchestra program. Adams was Leonard Bernstein’s assistant conductor and performed as a guest pianist, harpsichordist, and organist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Seiji Ozawa and Michael Tilson Thomas. He also served as music director of the New Bedford Symphony for 18 years and conducted the Concord Chorus for 20 years. Awards include a Tanglewood Fellowship, a medal from Pope Paul VI, an honorary membership in the Alpha Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa at Harvard University, and the Harvard Glee Club Medal. In addition, Adams edited motets of Josquin des Prez and Antoine Brumel for G. Schirmer and directed five recordings for the Musical Heritage Society. F. John received his A.B., A.M., and Ph.D. from Harvard University and studied conducting with Frederik Prausnitz and Nadia Boulanger.

Tour Archive

Click on image to view tour page