Philip Glass

Philip Glass is an American composer whose music spans opera, concert performance, theatre and film. Born in Baltimore in 1937, he studied at the University of Chicago and Juilliard, then worked in Paris with Nadia Boulanger and Ravi Shankar. His ensemble music became associated with minimalism through its repeating and gradually changing structures.

Glass’s operas include Einstein on the Beach, made with Robert Wilson, Satyagraha and Akhnaten. His screen work includes Koyaanisqatsi with Godfrey Reggio, The Hours and Kundun. Collaborations with figures including David Bowie, Allen Ginsberg and Doris Lessing have brought his music into contact with popular music, poetry and literature.