"The title of Adams', 'I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky', came from the L.A. Times. It is based on a quote from a survivor of the 1994 California earthquake. In "Ceiling," Adams turns to American vernacular music - gospel, R&B, rock `n' roll, blues and Broadway - for melodic and harmonic material. Two singers, Darius de Haas and Audra McDonald, deserve special mention. De Haas has an extraordinary vocal range that is clear and forceful. And McDonald possesses a voluptuous sound that is always sensitive to the musical phrase."

Music by John Adams Libretto by June Jordan, Nonesuch, November 1998