Thomas Adès
Thomas Adès (born 1 March 1971) is a British composer, pianist, and conductor renowned for his innovative contributions to contemporary classical music.[1]Born in London, Adès studied piano at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama from 1983 to 1988 and later pursued music studies at King's College, Cambridge, from 1989 to 1992, and received instruction in piano and chamber music from György Kurtág in Hungary (1988–1989) and England (1993–1994).[1]
His compositional oeuvre spans operas, orchestral works, chamber music, and solo pieces, with notable operas including Powder Her Face (1995), The Tempest (2004), and The Exterminating Angel (2016), the latter of which he conducted at its world premiere in Salzburg.[2]
Key orchestral compositions feature Asyla (1997), Tevot (2007), Polaris (2010), and the piano concerto In Seven Days (2008), while chamber works such as Arcadiana (1994) and The Four Quarters (2010) highlight his versatility in smaller ensembles.[3][4]
Adès rose to prominence in the 1990s as one of the leading figures of his generation, serving as Artistic Director of the Aldeburgh Festival from 1999 to 2008 and fostering new music through innovative programming.[1][5] His conducting career encompasses regular engagements with major orchestras, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra (as Artistic Partner from 2016 to 2023), the [Los Angeles Philharmonic](/page/Los Angeles_Philharmonic), the New York Philharmonic, and the London Symphony Orchestra.[6][7]
As a pianist, Adès performs his own works and those of contemporaries, often in chamber settings, and has recorded extensively, earning a Grammy Award in 2014 for Best Opera Recording of The Tempest.[4][8]
Adès's achievements include the Grawemeyer Award for Asyla (1999), the Ernst von Siemens Prize for Arcadiana, the Léonie Sonning Music Prize (2015), the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Music and Opera (2023), the Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medal (2024), and the Grand Prix artistique de la Fondation Simone et Cino del Duca (2025); he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2018.[9][1][10][11]
In recent years, he has held residencies such as a two-year engagement with the Hallé Orchestra and an artist-in-focus role with the Czech Philharmonic starting in autumn 2025, alongside serving as Creative Chair for the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich in the 2025/26 season.[12][13]