"John Adams Theme" from My Dearest Friend

America's first "power couple," John and Abigail Adams shared a correspondence of over 1,100 letters from 1762-1801 that detailed some of the most significant events in American history.

Their personal accounts of America's political tensions with Great Britain and their unyielding determination to design a new independent nation are beautifully nuanced with descriptions of domestic life in Boston, and underscored with Abigail's tremendous personal sacrifices to support her husband's political career. A progressive thinker in her own right, Abigail was John's greatest supporter and adviser from the time John left his family in Boston for the First Continental Congress through the completion of his term as the second President of the United States. Despite John's 27 years of public service, including many years away from his wife and children in Braintree, time and distance could not break the extraordinary bond of love between this husband and wife.

As I poured over hundreds of their letters in my research, I wanted to design an opera for soprano and baritone that encompassed the span of John and Abigail's entire relationship from early courtship and married life in the 1760s, to their active roles in major political events, and ultimately to Abigail's death in 1818. "My Dearest Friend" was the loving salutation John and Abigail used in their letters to one another and was befitting for the opera's title.

‍My Dearest Friend - Introduction "John Adams Theme" is the instrumental work that opens the opera and evokes patriotism, courage, impending war and personal family sacrifices which were necessary for shaping a new America. In performance, I encourage the musician to embrace these sentiments with the very hope and determination that embodies the American spirit.