Design and Music Series: Philip Glass

Mr. Glass will speak on the theme of collaboration and the creative process and, through brief performances, share selections from his oeuvre.
Due to limited capacity, tickets will be distributed within the GSD community only, and live viewing of this event in Piper Auditorium will be restricted to ticket-holders. Simulcast viewing will be available to the public from other rooms in Gund Hall on a first-come, first-served basis. 
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. By 1974, Glass had a number of innovative projects, creating a large collection of new music for The Philip Glass Ensemble, and for the Mabou Mines Theater Company. This period culminated in Music in Twelve Parts, and the landmark opera, Einstein on the Beach for which he collaborated with Robert Wilson. Since Einstein, Glass has expanded his repertoire to include music for opera, dance, theater, chamber ensemble, orchestra, and film. His scores have received Academy Award nominations (Kundun, The Hours, Notes on a Scandal) and a Golden Globe (The Truman Show). Glass has received an Oscar nomination for his Notes score. Symphony No. 7 and Symphony No. 8—Glass’s latest symphonies—along with Waiting for the Barbarians, an opera based on the book by J.M. Coetzee, premiered in 2005.  In April 2007, the English National Opera, in conjunction with the Metropolitan Opera, remounted Glass’s Satyagraha, which appeared in New York in April 2008. Glass’ recent opera, based on the life and work of Johannes Kepler and commissioned by Linz 2009, Cultural Capital of Europe, and Landestheater Linz, premiered in September 2009 in Linz, Austria and in November 2009 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Symphony #9 was completed in 2011 and will be premiered in Linz, Austria in January 1, 2012 by the Bruckner Orchestra with a U.S. premiere in New York at Carnegie Hall on January 31, 2012 as part of the composer’s 75th birthday celebration. Symphony #10 has been completed this spring and will receive its European premiere in France in the summer of 2012.
Photo by Fernando Aceves  

Additional Speakers:

Philip Glass

Harvard University welcomes individuals with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you would like to request accommodations or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact the Public Programs Office at (617) 496-2414 or [email protected] in advance of your participation or visit. Requests for American Sign Language interpreters and/or CART providers should be made at least two weeks in advance. Please note that the University will make every effort to secure services, but that services are subject to availability.

#GSDEVENTS