Thomas Ades: Music for the 21st Century

Thomas Ades: Music for 21st Century is a music documentary produced by LWT Productions in 1999. The documentary is based on the musical journey of Thomas Joseph Edmund Adès, a famous British composer, pianist, and conductor, focusing closely on two works: "Asyla," an orchestral work, and "Powder Her Face," an opera. The documentary is directed and produced by Gerald Fox and showcased on Channel 4, featuring Thomas Ades.

Plot
Thomas Ades: Music for 21st Century is a Documentary on composer Thomas Ades.

Cast
Thomas Ades – Self

Production
Thomas Ades comes into the contemporary music scene more than 30 years ago and quickly gained notoriety as a young rebel of his time. Despite his reputation as a controversial artist Ades possesses a talent for composing, with a keen ear for instrumental texture and sonority, as well as being a gifted pianist. Born in 1971, Ades received his musical training from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, under the tutelage of composer Robert Saxton. Ades has amassed an impressive portfolio of works, including solo piano pieces, operas, and orchestral and ensemble compositions.

One of Ades' latest compositions, 'Darkness Visible,' serves as an exploration and tribute to the music of English composer John Dowland. In this piece, Ades ingeniously deconstructs and reimagines Dowland's 17th-century lute song, 'In darkness let me dwell,' infuses it with a modern 21st-century the sensibility that illuminates and highlights the piece's enduring relevance.