Michael Adams

Violist Michael Adams has carved out a unique career that has lead down many roads: as a chamber musician, an orchestral player, writer on music, radio commentator and producer, host of the Minnesota Orchestra’s “Adventures in Music” family concerts and—along with his violinist wife Daria of the SPCO— the founding Artistic Director of Music in the Vineyards Festival in California’s Napa Valley. Michael studied at the Eastman School of Music and Mannes College of Music in New York. He joined the viola section of the Minnesota Orchestra in 1988 at the invitation of conductor Edo de Waart after a successful stint as a music producer and host for classical WCAL-FM in Northfield and later, for Minnesota Public Radio. Michael is an avid bicyclist, enjoys canoe camping in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Wilderness Area, sailing with friends on Lake Superior and planning fantasy vacation trips with his collection of maps. He is the father to three children, ages 19, 17 and 15 and lives in Edina.