By Norman Lebrecht [La Scena Musicale, 8 August 2007]

The busiest composer alive is sitting across the breakfast table, nursing a sore back from the San Francisco long-haul. John Adams, 60, has flown in to conduct a new opera at the Barbican this weekend and another at the Proms in a fortnight; in between, he has a piece being danced by Scottish Ballet at the Edinburgh Festival and a clutch of concert performances. He is, in a word, everywhere.