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GlassPhilip Glass was born in Baltimore, Maryland, Philip Glass is a graduate of the University of Chicago and the Juilliard School. In the early 1960s, Glass spent two years of intensive study in Paris with Nadia Boulanger and while there, earned money by transcribing Ravi Shankar’s Indian music into Western notation. Upon his return to New York, he applied these eastern techniques to his own music. By 1974, Glass had a number of significant and innovative projects, creating a large collection of new music for his performing group, The Philip Glass Ensemble, and for the Mabou Mines Theater Company, which he co-founded. This period culminated in Music in Twelve Parts, followed by the landmark opera, Einstein on the Beach, created with Robert Wilson in 1976.  Since Einstein, Glass has expanded his repertoire to include music for opera, dance, theater, chamber ensemble, orchestra, and film.  His score for Martin Scorsese's Kundun received an Academy Award nomination while his score for Peter Weir’s The Truman Show won him a Golden Globe. His film score for Stephen Daldry’s The Hours received Golden Globe, Grammy, and Academy Award nominations, along with winning the Anthony Asquith Award for Achievement in Film Music from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
Beyond the genres of opera, orchestra, and film scores, Glass also has a number unclassifiable dance, theater, and recording works. Dance hybrids include In the Upper Room (1986), choreographed by Twyla Tharp, and A Descent into the Maelstrom (1986). Theater hybrids include The Photographer (1983), The Mysteries and What's so Funny? (1990) and 1000 Airplanes on the Roof (1988) with a libretto by David Henry Hwang and designs by Jerome Sirlin. Glass has also created a trilogy of musical theater pieces based on the films of Jean Cocteau, Orphée (1993), La Belle et La Bête (1994) and Les Enfants Terribles (1996). His hybrid recording projects include Passages (1991) with Ravi Shankar, and Songs from Liquid Days (1986) with lyrics by David Byrne, Paul Simon, Laurie Anderson, and Suzanne Vega.
Glass continues to produce for diverse audiences. Recent film scores include Errol Morris’ Academy Award winning documentary The Fog of War and David Koepp’s Secret Window. In 2004 Glass premiered the new work Orion – a collaboration between Glass and six other international artists opening in Athens as part of the cultural celebration of the Olympics in Greece. Premieres in 2005 include Glass’ new opera, Waiting for the Barbarians, libretto by Christopher Hampton, based on the book by J.M. Coetzee and his Symphony No. 8 with the Bruckner Orchestra. Upcoming in 2006 are film scores for George Butler’s Roving Mars IMAX project and Neil Burger’s The Illusionist.
In 2004, in Athens, Greece, Glass premiered Orion, a new work for ensemble and world musicians commissioned by the Cultural Olympiad 2001-2004. In addition to touring ORION, Philip Glass Solo Piano, and Philip Glass Ensemble retrospective concerts, Philip Glass and the Philip Glass Ensemble regularly tour internationally with the Philip on Film project, selected performances of film scores by Philip Glass played live in concert with screenings of the original films: Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi, Naqoyqatsi, La Belle et la Bête, Dracula and Shorts.