Pianist / Conductor / Composer Adam Waite believes in the transformative power of music: a catalyst for healing, hope, renewal and justice. His work always strives to find the spiritual soul of music, whether that be in his solo piano meditations or his conducting full symphonic orchestra and chorus.
Adam is also an advocate for recognizing and appreciating the rich and diverse musical heritage of the Americas – including voices and genres that have historically been marginalized from the “classical” concert stage. This includes his creation of the Reparations Royalties Pilot Program : a practice of valuing the musical contributions of enslaved Africans – the American Negro Spiritual – as a vital foundational element to the music of the United States. (Listen to the NPR Weekend Edition Interview here).
Since 2015, Adam has served as Minister of Music at Denver Colorado’s historic Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church. In his time at Montview, he has conducted full symphonic performances of Marquez: Sueños (Colorado Premiere), Ellington: Sacred Concert (50th anniversary performance), Lauridsen: Lux Aeterna, Copland: Appalachian Spring, Bloch: Sacred Service, Chavez: Symphony No. 2, Holst: The Cloud Messenger (Colorado Premiere); Nancy Galbraith: Missa Mysteriorum (Orchestral World Premiere), Poulenc: Gloria; Finzi: In Terra Pax; Rutter: Gloria; and Dvořák: Mass in D. In 2022, Adam led Montview’s commission of composer Ike Sturm’s and lyricist Chanda Rule’s new 16-movement jazz mass, RIVER.
As a pianist, Adam has been honored to play and collaborate with some of the country’s finest musicians, including: vocalist JoFoKe and trumpeter Shane Endsley, in concert at Red Rocks; broadway star Mara Davi; singer/songwriter Becca Stevens and famed jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. He has appeared at a wide variety of venues including national live on-air performances for Good Morning America and the Walt Disney Concert Hall.
As a composer/arranger, his commissioned works have been performed by the Colorado Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, The Metropolis Symphony and the folk super-group, I’m With Her. He has written for over forty different Broadway casts as Music Supervisor and Director for Broadway Cares: Carols for a Cure. His orchestral work The Tool Collector was heralded by the LA Times for its use of “minimalist texture while seamlessly contrasting symphonic strings with jazz horns,” and he has collaborated with Grammy-Award singer Peter Eldridge on symphonic film score work for PBS.
Born and raised in Upstate NY, Adam presently lives in Denver Colorado, alongside his wife and violinist Leena Waite and their 12 year old son, Ethan.
ADAM WAITE 