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Philip Glass

Philip Glass, early protagonist of the Minimalist movement, studied with Milhaud and Nadia Boulanger. His first job, assisting Ravi Shankar on a film soundtrack, heralded the start of his own successful cinema career, and to date he has scored over fifty movies. Early works tended to be abstract, but from the mid-1970s his attention shifted towards the stage. His first operatic triumph, Einstein on the Beach, did much to reinvigorate the international contemporary opera scene. Profoundly interested in traditional cultures, Glass often draws on Eastern traditions, as in Monsters of Grace (1997), a multimedia collaboration based on the writings of Rumi. Born in Baltimore on January 31, 1937, Philip Glass discovered music in his father's radio repair shop. In addition to servicing radios, Ben Glass carried a line of records and, when certain ones sold poorly, he would take them home and play them for his three children, trying to discover why they didn't appeal to customers. These happened to be recordings of the great chamber works, and the future composer rapidly became familiar with Beethoven quartets, Schubert sonatas, Shostakovich symphonies and other music then considered 'offbeat.' It was not until he was in his upper teens did Glass begin to encounter more 'standard' classics. Glass began the violin at six and became serious about music when he took up the flute at eight. But by the time he was 15, he had become frustrated with the limited flute repertoire as well as with musical life in post-war Baltimore. During his second year in high school, he applied for admission to the University of Chicago, passed and, with his parents' encouragement, moved to Chicago where he supported himself with part-time jobs waiting tables and loading airplanes at airports. He majored in mathematics and philosophy, and in off hours practiced piano and concentrated on such composers as Ives and Webern. At 19, Glass graduated from the University of Chicago and moved to New York City to attend the Juilliard School. During this time, he abandoned the 12-tone techniques he used in Chicago and explored the works of American composers like Aaron Copland and William Schuman. Eventually Glass would study with Vincent Persichetti, Darius Milhaud and William Bergsma. Rejecting serialism, Glass gravitated to such maverick composers as Harry Partch, Ives, Moondog, Henry Cowell and Virgil Thomson, but still had not found his own voice. In 1960, he moved to Paris and spent two years of intensive study under Nadia Boulanger.

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Radio & Podcasts

On Minimalism: Kerry O'Brien and William Robin in Conversation

Read "On Minimalism: Kerry O'Brien and William Robin in Conversation" reviewed by Lawrence Peryer


Today, the Spotlight shines On Kerry O'Brien and William Robin, co-authors of the book On Minimalism: Documenting a Musical Movement (University of California Press).Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Terry Riley and LaMonte Young are stereotypically described as the “Big Four" of minimalism in music. While On Minimalism does nothing to undermine or belittle their pioneering and important contributions to the form, the authors widen the aperture to show a broader scope to the music, from its beginnings in the ...

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Live Review

The Philip Glass Ensemble plays the music of the Qatsi Trilogy at Philharmonie de Paris

Read "The Philip Glass Ensemble plays the music of the Qatsi Trilogy at Philharmonie de Paris" reviewed by Nenad Georgievski


Philip Glass Ensemble Philharmonie de Paris Qatsi Trilogy Paris, France 06-08.12.19 In a long and illustrious career laden with major works and countless performances, the “Qatsi trilogy" holds a special place in composer Philip Glass' oeuvre. The Qatsi refers to the three documentaries or art films directed by Godfrey Reggio which were created over a period of 20 years and for which Glass contributed the music. These three films titled Koyaanisquatsi (1982), Powaqqatsi ...

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Live Review

Philip Glass & Philip Glass Ensemble at Malmo Live Konserthus, Sweden

Read "Philip Glass & Philip Glass Ensemble at Malmo Live Konserthus,  Sweden" reviewed by Nenad Georgievski


Philip Glass & Philip Glass Ensemble Malmo Live Konserthus 50th year jubilee Malmo, Sweden May 26, 2019 Throughout his nearly 6-decade career, composer Philip Glass continues to light up stages around the world. Particularly during this past May, his music lit up many stages throughout Europe as there was a flurry of activities and performances of many of his works. He premiered his new symphony No 12 that is based on David Bowie's Lodger ...

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Live Review

The 2019 Tibet House U.S. Benefit Concert

Read "The 2019 Tibet House U.S. Benefit Concert" reviewed by Mike Perciaccante


The 2019 Tibet House U.S. Benefit Concert Carnegie Hall New York, NY February 7, 2019On Thursday, February 7, 2019, New York City's Carnegie Hall was alive with the essence of Tibet as it hosted the 2019 Tibet House U.S. Benefit Concert featuring an all-star lineup of artists. Philip Glass; Patti Smith and her band; Nathaniel Rateliff; Stephen Colbert; Jon Batiste; New Order; Jason Isbell; Debbie Harry; Angelique Kidjo; the Scorchio Quartet, and ...

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Live Review

Philip Glass Ensemble Performs Music In Twelve Parts At Town Hall

Read "Philip Glass Ensemble Performs Music In Twelve Parts At Town Hall" reviewed by Peter Jurew


Philip Glass Ensemble Town Hall New York, NY October 27, 2018 Philip Glass's monumental Music in Twelve Parts was originally intended to be performed over three nights. “It's a marathon," Lisa Bielawa, the Ensemble's singer, has said. “The way people train for a marathon is the way we prepare for this piece." Returning to jny: New York's Town Hall where it debuted in 1974, the four-hour cycle was performed in ...

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New York @ Night

Glass @ 80: Philip Glass & Foday Musa Suso with Jeffrey Zeigler and Asher Delerme

Read "Glass @ 80:  Philip Glass & Foday Musa Suso with Jeffrey Zeigler and Asher Delerme" reviewed by Peter Jurew


Philip Glass National Sawdust Brooklyn, NY March 12, 2017 On their own, National Sawdust and World Music Institute are two smartly run non-profit cultural organizations that produce wonderful programming for smart, loyal audiences. Together, the two can be dynamic co-conspirators in the effort to stage the kind of riveting, genre-bending artistic expression that can transcend borders and begin to salve the collective wounds inflicted by our sorry times. Such was the case in December when ...

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Book Review

Philip Glass: Words Without Music - A Memoir

Read "Philip Glass: Words Without Music - A Memoir" reviewed by Nenad Georgievski


Words Without Music: A Memoir Philip Glass 432 pages ISBN: 0871404389 Liveright 2015 While composer John Cage is the first name in contemporary classical music that most people will likely know, the music of composer Philip Glass is probably more likely to be the first sound of it they actually hear. His music and influence are literary widespread everywhere. Today Glass reigns supreme as America's most successful living composer and his music ...

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Recording

Instrumental Bass & Vibes Duo Cliffwalker Can Be Compared To Steve Reich, Philip Glass As Well As Contemporaries Such As Tortoise, Death From Above 1979

Instrumental Bass & Vibes Duo Cliffwalker Can Be Compared To Steve Reich, Philip Glass As Well As Contemporaries Such As Tortoise, Death From Above 1979

Source: Fanatic Promotion

“Delightfully teeters on the edge of chaos...” says music discovery blog Independent Clauses in its coverage of “Punching Clocks,” the debut single by Portland-based duo CLIFFWALKER. Punching Clocks is the sort of thing that the word post-rock was made for. It’s rock put in the service of other moods. The interplay of the leads produces the experience of a spy-movie chase scene.” The Portland, Oregon-based instrumental duo of Cliff Hayes (Bass, Keys) and A. Walker Spring (Vibes, Drums, Keys, Guitar), ...

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Performance / Tour

Philip Glass to Perform Film, Opera Works at Hollywood Bowl

Philip Glass to Perform Film, Opera Works at Hollywood Bowl

Source: Michael Ricci

The musician made his name in, and shattered the mold of film music scores. By the 1980s, Philip Glass had earned a healthy reputation working in the concert hall, art films and the theater. That didn't mean he slid easily into Hollywood.

“When I first started doing Hollywood films," Glass, 72, said by phone from his home in New York, “I was told I wasn't writing real film music. I said, 'What is real film music?' And the person said, ...

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Recording

Do You Have Philip Glass in a Box?

Do You Have Philip Glass in a Box?

Source: Michael Ricci

First there was the demise of Tower Records. Now the two Virgin Megastores in New York, in Times Square and Union Square, will close this spring. The future of the recording industry lies with downloading, trends suggest. It is not hard to find music lovers in their 20s who have never bought a physical CD.

Yet recording companies, especially classical ones, continue to churn out CDs, and not just single discs but multidisc boxed sets. To commemorate the centennial of ...

Cara Dineen
vocals
Alex Koo
piano
Angela on the Arts
band / ensemble / orchestra
Cliffwalker
band / ensemble / orchestra

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Glassworks

Music On Vinyl
2015

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Philip Glass: The...

Music On Vinyl
2014

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Low Symphony

Music On Vinyl
2014

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Visitors

Orange Mountain Music
2013

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Philip Glass:...

Nonesuch Records
2012

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Videos

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