DOCUMENTARY “SHORT RIDES WITH JOHN ADAMS”

Documentary by Daniel Finkernagel & Magdalena Zięba-Schwind about American composer John Adams as Artist in Residence with the Berliner Philharmoniker.

John Adams, who has just celebrated his 70th birthday, is one of the most influential and at the same time most popular US composers of the post-war period, known for his irresistible music in which minimalism is mixed with imaginative orchestration and jazzy verve. In their documentary “Short Rides with John Adams”, Daniel Finkernagel and Magdalena Zięba-Schwind display the diversity of Adams’s encounters during his time as Artist in Residence with the Berliner Philharmoniker.

The documentary’s aim is to discover which of his numerous encounters inspire, influence, shape or change John Adams and thus to get closer to the creative genius of the composer. Conversely, it depicts the effects John Adams and his music have on the people who play it or listen to it. The viewer gets a glimpse of how Adams is rehearsing his own works with the Berliner Philharmoniker, conducting himself or working together with his renowned colleagues Sir Simon Rattle and Gustavo Dudamel. Furthermore he has the opportunity to accompany the composer drawing inspiration from his walks and rides through the city of Berlin with its musical traditions and its particularly colourful and multi-faceted cultural landscape.

A production of BPhil Media in co-production with UNITEL.