The Philip Glass Festival

Composer Philip Glass changed American music forever. As a forefather of minimalism, Glass invented a new way to create music, and with it, brought new audiences to concert halls. Through his operas, his symphonies, his compositions for his own ensemble, and his wide-ranging collaborations with artists ranging from Twyla Tharp to Allen Ginsberg, Woody Allen to David Bowie, Philip Glass has had an extraordinary and unprecedented impact upon the musical and intellectual landscapes of his time.

For Philip Glass’ 75^th birthday celebration year, the Modlin Center for the Arts’ Philip Glass Festival will explore the profound legacy of this prolific artist. Through lectures, demonstrations, films, performances, and the ModlinArts Artist Voices Series, this festival will examine the many facets and the enduring genius of Glass’ work.

Film: Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts
Scott Hicks, director
ModlinArts After Words hosted by eighth blackbird
Sunday, September 16, 2012
3pm
Camp Concert Hall, Booker Hall of Music

To celebrate the 70^th birthday of Philip Glass, filmmaker Scott Hicks began an 18-month journey filming Glass as he toured across three continents. From Glass’ annual ride on the Coney Island “Cyclone” to the world premiere of his opera in Germany, to a performance with a didgeridoo virtuoso in Australia, Hicks was allowed unprecedented access to Glass’ working process, family, spiritual teachers, and long-time collaborators. The result is a singular revelation into the life of a surprising and complex man.

Join the Modlin Center for ModlinArts, a post-show question-and-answer session hosted by members of eighth blackbird.

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eighth blackbird: A Philip Glass Celebration
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
7:30pm
Camp Concert Hall, Booker Hall of Music

Philip Glass: Arabesque in memoriam; Einstein on the Beach (excerpt); Mad Rush Derek Bermel: Tied Shifts; Tom Johnson: Counting Duets; Nico Muhly: Doublespeak; John Cage: Living Room Music; Mayke Nas: Anyone can do it; Andy Akiho: erase

Through his operas, symphonies, film music and collaborations with poets, artists and popular musicians, Glass has had an extraordinary impact on our musical life. Grammy-winning ensemble eighth blackbird presents music composed and influenced by this giant of American music, including Doublespeak, a birthday present for Glass written for eighth blackbird by indie musician Nico Muhly. Derek Bermel’s Tied Shifts is a wild Balkan romp, Tom Johnson’s Counting Duets is both funny and thinky, and Mayke Nas’s Anyone can do it involves some very entertaining audience participation.

Join the Modlin Center for Modlin Arts After Words, a post-show question-and-answer session with members of eighth blackbird.

This tour of Eighth Blackbird is made possible by a grant from Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

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Film: Koyaanisqatsi
Godfrey Reggio, director
Sunday, September 23, 2012
3pm
Camp Concert Hall, Booker Hall of Music

Koyaanisqatsi, a Hopi Indian word meaning “life out of balance” was Godfrey Reggio’s debut as a film director and the first film in the QATSI trilogy, the informal name given to a series of films produced by Reggio and scored by Philip Glass. Created between 1975 and 1982, the film is an apocalyptic vision of the collision of two different worlds – urban life and technology versus the environment. Mirroring the movement of the images, the musical score is considered one of Philip Glass’ best known works.

Join the Modlin Center for ModlinArts After Words, a post-show question-and-answer session hosted by Department of Music faculty member Jeffrey Riehl.

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Film: La Belle et La Bête (Beauty and the Beast)
Jean Cocteau, director
Monday, October 1, 2012
7pm
Camp Concert Hall, Booker Hall of Music

“For me, La Belle et La Bête has always been the most compelling of Cocteau’s films. This work, more than any other, expresses the profundity of his thought and the eloquence of his artistic vision” – Philip Glass

Central to the “modern” art movement of the 20^th century, Jean Cocteau’s work used questions of art, immortality, and the creative process as the subjects of his work. Presented as a simple fairy tale, La Belle et La Bête is an extremely thoughtful and subtle reflection on the very nature of an artist’s creative process.

One of the most celebrated and unique works in Philip Glass’ career is his live interpretation of La Belle et La Bête. Originally conceived as part of a trilogy of stage productions celebrating the work of Jean Cocteau, La Belle et La Bête is Glass’ most challenging experiment in synchronized music with film. For this production, Glass removed the film’s original dialogue track and Georges Auric score, replacing it with his own score played live by the Philip Glass Ensemble, with the dialogue sung by live singers and synchronized with the actors in the film.

Join the Modlin Center for ModlinArts After Words, a post-show question-and-answer session hosted by Françoise Ravaux- Kirkpatrick, Professor of French and Film Studies.

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ModlinArts Artist Voices Series Presents: 
Philip Glass: Collaboration and the Creative Process
Thursday, October 4, 2012
7:30pm
Alice Jepson Theatre
$34

In this Artist Voices Series presentation, Philip Glass will discuss his extensive career, share stories from the SoHo artist community in the 1970s, and reflect on his numerous collaborative projects with a variety of figures within the arts including Twyla Tharp, Allen Ginsberg, Woody Allen, David Bowie, and Chuck Close.

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Philip Glass and Tim Fain in Concert
Friday, October 5, 2012
7:30pm
Camp Concert Hall, Booker Hall of Music

Violinist Tim Fain has received an Avery Fisher Career Grant, won the Young Concert Artists International Award, and has been featured in both Symphony and Strad magazines as an “Up-and-Coming” musician. On screen, he has been heard as the sound of Richard Gere’s violin in Bee Season, and most recently seen on screen and heard on the Grammy®-nominated soundtrack for Black Swan. He has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras both in the United States and internationally, performing works ranging from Beethoven and Tchaikovsky to Danielpour and Corigliano.

The Philip Glass Festival is sponsored in part by the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation and by the Cultural Affairs Committee.

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