A Flowering Tree

Featuring

John Adams
Jessica Rivera
Russell Thomas
Eric Owens
London Symphony Orchestra
Schola Cantorum de Venezuela

Did you know?

1/7

Cultural Impact

The ancient South Indian folk tale A Flowering Tree, which inspired this opera, speaks to contemporary issues as urgently as any modern subject.

Compositional Technique

Despite a large orchestra of 32 percussion instruments, strings, winds, brass, harp, and celesta, much of A Flowering Tree sounds like chamber music, creating intense intimacy.

Recording & Production

The premiere of A Flowering Tree in Vienna featured a Venezuelan chorus and orchestra, Indonesian dancers, and everyone, including John Adams conducting, wore colorful Indian costumes.

Composition History

John Adams' 2006 opera, A Flowering Tree, was commissioned for the New Crowned Hope Festival in Vienna to celebrate Mozart's 250th birthday.

Composer's Artistic Vision

A Flowering Tree is John Adams' response to Mozart's final opera, Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), sharing themes of transformation, trial, and redemption.

Compositional Technique

The opera features only three solo voices: Kumudha (the girl), the Prince, and a Storyteller, with a versatile chorus filling other roles and switching characters.

Compositional Technique

John Adams chose to set the chorus texts in Spanish, partly because of the Venezuelan chorus, Schola Cantorum de Venezuela, and because Spanish had become his 'second language'.