Philip Glass

Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer whose music is frequently described as minimalist. Glass orchestrated some of David Bowie's instrumentals from the albums Low and Heroes in his Low Symphony and Heroes Symphony. Glass has been prolific throughout his career, and has scored many films, including Godfrey Reggio's experimental documentary film Koyaanisqatsi, Errol Morris' biopic A Brief History of Time (based on Stephen Hawking's popular physics book), and Martin Scorsese's Kundun[?].

Glass was born in Balitmore[?] and studied the flute as a child at the Peabody Coservatory of Music[?]. He then went on to the Julliard School of Music[?] where he switched to mostly plays the keyboard.

Glass traveled to North India in 1966, where he came in contact with Tibetan refugees. This had a strong influence on his work. He became a Buddhist, and met the Dalai Lama in 1972. He is a strong supporter of the Tibetan cause.

Notable works:

• Einstein on the beach[?] (opera; 1976)
• Satyagraha (opera; 1980)
• Akhnaten (opera; 1983)
• Koyaanisqatsi (film score; 1983)
• Music with Changing Parts[?]
• Music in Twelve Parts[?]
• Glassworks[?]
• Hydrogen Jukebox[?] (libretto by Allen Ginsberg)

See also: John Adams, Steve Reich, Terry Riley, Louis Andriessen

External links

• http://www.glasspages.org/
• http://www.philipglass.com/