Philip Glass, one of the best known living composers, will be 80 on 31 January. Thema on Wednesday 25 January from 20:00 to 22:00 CET celebrates this event.
Philip Glass is controversial, immensely popular and still unbelievably productive. Despite his age he is still performing live and composing new work. His achievements are overwhelming: operas, concert pieces, music for ballet and soundtracks. Thema looks at some of his lesser-known works. ‘Einstein on the Beach’ and ‘Koyaanisqatsi’ are recognised as classics of minimal music but Glass has also written many more pieces that are less frequently heard. De Concertzender presents two hours of the ‘best of the rest’ from Philip Glass, including his very first Feldman-like piece for string quartet, a soundtrack for a cult horror film, cross-over music with Ravi Shankar and an opera piece with Laurie Anderson.
