Philip Glass | Artist

Philip Glass is an American modern classical composer and musician born 1937 in Baltimore, Maryland. Glass's work has been described as minimalism, having similar qualities to composers such as La Monte Young, Steve Reich, and Terry Riley. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the late 20th century. Glass was born to Ida and Benjamin Glass, who were Latvian and Russian-Jewish emigrants. His father owned a record store and his mother was a librarian. In his memoir, Glass recalls that at the end of World War II his mother aided Jewish Holocaust survivors, inviting recent arrivals to America to stay at their home until they could find a job and a place to live. Philip developed his appreciation of music from his father, discovering later his father's family had many musicians. His cousin Cevia was a classical pianist, while others had been in vaudeville. He learned his family was also related to Al Jolson. Glass studied the flute as a child at the Peabody Institute of Music, then at the age of 15 entered an accelerated college program at the University of Chicago where he studied mathematics and philosophy. He progressed to the Juilliard School of Music where the keyboard was his main instrument. Fellow students included Steve Reich and Peter Schickele. In 1964, Glass received a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Paris with the eminent composition teacher Nadia Boulanger, from 1964-1966. In 1968 Glass founded the Philip Glass Ensemble, which is still in existence, but Glass no longer performs with the ensemble. Over the course of his career Glass has written 15 operas, numerous chamber operas and musical theatre works, 14 symphonies, 12 concertos, nine string quartets, various other chamber music pieces, and many film scores. Three of his film scores received Academy Award nominations: Martin Scorsese's Kundun (1997), Stephen Daldry's The Hours (2002), and Richard Eyre's Notes on a Scandal (2006). He also composed the scores for Mishima (1985), Hamburger Hill (1987), The Thin Blue Line (1988), The Truman Show (1998), and The Illusionist (2006). Glass is also known for his modern operas such as Einstein on the Beach (1976), Satyagraha (1980), Akhnaten (1983), The Voyage (1992), and The Perfect American (2013). And he wrote the scores for Broadway productions such as the revivals of The Elephant Man (2002), The Crucible (2016), and King Lear (2019). Many of Glass' works have been recorded, including performances by Glass himself on keyboards. Outstanding albums include Glassworks (1982), Koyaanisqatsi (1983), The Photographer (1983), Mishima (1985), Satyagraha (1985), Akhnaten (1987), Solo Piano (1989), Einstein on the Beach (1993), The Music of Candyman (2001), and The Hours (2002). When Glass was a youngster, his father's record store developed a reputation as Baltimore's leading source of modern music. Philip built a sizable record collection from unsold records, including modern classical music such as Hindemith, Bartók, Schoenberg, Shostakovich and Western classical music including Beethoven's string quartets and Schubert's B♭ Piano Trio. Glass has stated that Franz Schubert, with whom he shares a birthday, is his favorite composer. Philip Glass is one of the most influential living composers, being one of the first composers to win a wide, multigenerational audience in the opera house, the concert hall, the dance world, in film, and in popular music.

Artist Website: philipglass.com

Featured Albums: Philip Glass

Related Artists: The Philip Glass Ensemble, Michael Riesman, Kronos Quartet

Collections: Music Visionaries