Program Information
April 2, 2010, 7:30pm
Études (1994-1999)
These études are part of an evening length work of 16 études for piano completed in 1999. Each étude approaches the piano in a somewhat different way, producing a highly diverse set of pieces.
Four Metamorphoses (1989)
This is a set of piano pieces drawn from both Errol Morris’ film A Thin Blue Line and a staging of Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, part of The Kafka Trilogy (The Process) by Gerald Thomas, first performed in Sao Paulo, Brazil. As both projects were undertaken at the same time, the music seemed to lend itself well to a synthesis of this kind.
Mad Rush (1980)
This piece was commissioned by Radio Bremen and originally composed for organ. Lucinda Childs choreographed a solo dance to this piece shortly after its premiere.
Excerpts from A Musical Journey (1988)
These piano works by Philip Glass were created in collaboration with Gambian Griot Foday Musa Suso.
The Fourth Knee Play (1976)
The Knee Plays from Einstein on the Beach, composed in collaboration with theater director, designer and author Robert Wilson, formed a series of short interludes, which appeared throughout this six hour, four-act work. The original version, from which this arrangement was made, was scored for male chorus and the solo violinist who played the part of Einstein.
Satyagraha (1980)
Satyagraha is the second in a trilogy of operas, which began with Einstein on the Beach and concluded with Akhnaten in 1984. The opera explored the theme of social change through non-violence as seen in the politics and life of Mahatma Gandhi. The trilogy as a whole was performed in Stuttgart, Germany in 1989. The music heard in this piano arrangement appears at the conclusion of Act III and serves as an epilogue to the opera.
