Gustavo Dudamel, the incoming music director of the New York Philharmonic, will conduct four performances of John Adams’s “On the Transmigration of Souls” during the orchestra’s opening subscription series from September 16 to 19. The work, which features orchestra, chorus, children’s chorus, and prerecorded tape, was originally commissioned by the Philharmonic to mark the first anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Despite its significance, the orchestra has not performed the piece since its premiere under then-music director Lorin Maazel in 2002. Following the New York performances, Dudamel and the Philharmonic plan to bring the piece on a European tour beginning October 10 in Paris and concluding in Vienna on October 22.

Composed in the months following the attacks, “On the Transmigration of Souls” reflects Adams’s initial hesitation to engage directly with such a recent and traumatic event. The composer, who now lives in California but was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, recounted that he had hoped not to be asked to write such a work immediately after 9/11. However, when Jeremy Geffen, then the Philharmonic’s artistic administrator, approached him with the commission in January 2002, Adams was persuaded by the musicians’ response to the tragedy, including their performances near Ground Zero.

Adams described the creative process as challenging, with a limited time frame of about six months to complete the piece. Seeking inspiration, he immersed himself in personal accounts shared on Legacy.com, a website where people left messages commemorating those lost in the attacks. He also incorporated text from missing persons flyers found throughout New York City, weaving these fragments into the chorus’s material.

Musically, Adams drew influence from Charles Ives’s “The Unanswered Question,” employing a similar concept of a parody mass. He used the haunting trumpet motif from Ives’s work to symbolize the unresolved grief and questions following the attacks. The composition includes a “memory space” — an electronic soundscape that merges urban ambient sounds, such as sirens and footsteps, with voices and instruments, the latter appearing intermittently to emphasize the poignancy of the experience. The inclusion of children’s chorus singing names and messages adds another layer, underscoring the loss experienced by families.

Since its premiere, the piece has received critical acclaim, including a Pulitzer Prize and multiple Grammy Awards for the Philharmonic’s recording. Still, Adams reflected that the initial audience reaction did not fully meet his expectations. He suggested that the work’s subdued and contemplative nature, fitting for a tragedy of this scale, does not invite traditional applause but rather a solemn reflection.

With Dudamel’s upcoming performances coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the attacks, there is anticipation that the piece may resonate differently with contemporary audiences. Adams emphasized that the composition is intended not as a requiem for the dead but as a meditation on memory and the experience of survivors, addressing the enduring impact of loss rather than the event itself.