Philip Glass – Solo Piano
National Concert Hall
June 22nd, 2010
Tickets range from €15 - €40
Box-Office 01-4170000
Book online:
www.nch.ie
“The most powerful composer of our time…what Glass is doing is changing the face of music for our time and all time.” - The Daily Telegraph
“Glass’s Etudes waxed delicate and grandiose, sultry and melancholy, ghostly and hard-edged.” - The New York Times
“Few composers of our time have dismantled the barriers between the music of the people and the music of the elite more consistently and creatively than Philip Glass. Mr Glass's music may be minimalist, but his achievement is massive.” – The Guardian
Simultaneously stirring and meditative, an evening of Philip Glass’ solo piano is a rare opportunity to experience this influential composer’s work firsthand. Debuting a program that features his most recent Etudes for piano as well as classics in Glass’ repertoire, this concert provides a glimpse into the intricacies of the composer’s work in its most elemental form. Speaking from the piano bench, Glass personally introduces the program. An intimate and unique look at a visionary at work, this evening provides a fond re-acquaintance for Glass fans and a perfect introduction for new audiences.
Etudes and Other Work for Solo Piano
The evening’s program will consist of original music composed for solo piano as well as a number of arrangements for organ or instrumental combinations. All the music comes from the period dating from 1976 to the present and will include a selection of the following works:
Etudes (1994-1999)
These etudes are part of an evening length work of 16 etudes for piano completed in 1999. Each etude approaches the piano in a somewhat different way, producing a highly diverse set of pieces.
Metamorphosis I-V (1989)
Metamorphosis includes five pieces, and its title is from a play based on Kafka's short story, Metamorphosis. Pieces Three and Four are from Glass’ music to the staging of Kafka’s Metamorphosis by Gerald Thomas, first performed in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Pieces One, Two, and Five were drawn from his soundtrack for the acclaimed Errol Morris film, The Thin Blue Line. As both projects were undertaken at the same time, the music seemed to lend itself well to a synthesis of this kind.
Mad Rush (1980)
This piece was commissioned by Radio Bremen and originally composed for organ. Lucinda Childs choreographed a solo dance to this piece shortly after its premiere.
The Fourth Knee Play (1976)
The Knee Plays from Einstein on the Beach, composed in collaboration with theater director, designer and author Robert Wilson, formed a series of short interludes, which appeared throughout this six hour, four act work. The original version, from which this arrangement was made, was scored for male chorus and the solo violinist who played the part of Einstein.
Satyagraha (1980)
Satyagraha is the second in a trilogy of operas, which began with Einstein on the Beach and concluded with Akhnaten in 1984. The opera explored the theme of social change through non-violence as seen in the politics and life of Mahatma Gandhi. The trilogy as a whole was performed in Stuttgart, Germany in 1989. The music heard in this piano arrangement appears at the conclusion of Act III and serves as an epilogue to the opera.
Biography
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Philip Glass is a graduate of the University of Chicago and the Juilliard School. In the early 1960s, Glass spent two years of intensive study in Paris with Nadia Boulanger and, while there, earned money by transcribing Ravi Shankar’s Indian music into Western notation. Upon his return to New York, he applied these Eastern techniques to his own music. By 1974, Glass had a number of significant and innovative projects, creating a large collection of new music for his performing group, the Philip Glass Ensemble, and for the Mabou Mines Theater Company, which he co-founded. This period culminated in Music in Twelve Parts, followed by the landmark opera, Einstein on the Beach, created with Robert Wilson in 1976.
Since Einstein, Glass has expanded his repertoire to include music for opera, dance, theater, chamber ensemble, orchestra, and film. His score for Martin Scorsese's Kundun received an Academy Award nomination while his score for Peter Weir’s The Truman Show won him a Golden Globe. His film score for Stephen Daldry’s The Hours received Golden Globe, Grammy, and Academy Award nominations, along with winning a BAFTA in Film Music from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Original scores for the critically acclaimed films The Illusionist and Notes on a Scandal were released last year. Glass has received an Oscar nomination for his Notes score.
In 2004 Glass premiered the new work Orion—a collaboration between Glass and six other international artists opening in Athens as part of the cultural celebration of the 2004 Olympics in Greece, and his Piano Concerto No. 2 (After Lewis and Clark) with the Omaha Symphony Orchestra. Glass’ latest symphonies, Symphony No. 7 and Symphony No. 8, premiered in 2005 with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, and Bruckner Orchester Linz at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, respectively. 2005 also saw the premiere of Waiting for the Barbarians, an opera based on the book by J.M. Coetzee. Glass’ orchestral tribute to Indian spiritual leader Sri Ramakrishna, The Passion of Ramakrishna, premiered in 2006 at Orange County Performing Arts Center.
Glass maintained a dense creative schedule throughout 2007 and 2008, unveiling several highly anticipated works, including Book of Longing and an opera about the end of the Civil War titled Appomattox. In April 2007, the English National Opera, in conjunction with the Metropolitan Opera, remounted Glass’ Satyagraha, which appeared in New York in April 2008. Woody Allen’s recent film, Cassandra’s Dream, with an original score by Glass, premiered in January 2008.
