Christian Sands

One of the most influential composers of our time, Philip Glass has had an extraordinary and unprecedented impact upon the musical and intellectual life of our age, with more than 30 operas, 14 symphonies, 13 concertos, numerous soundtracks to films, nine string quartets, a growing body of work for solo piano and organ, and collaborations with artists from Twyla Tharp to Allen Ginsberg, and Leonard Cohen to David Bowie. He describes himself as a composer of “music with repetitive structures” and says that “If I’m to be remembered for anything, it will probably be for the piano music, because people can play it.” Glass conceived his collection of etudes as a set of 20 works for solo piano written to improve his own performance technique. His most personal body of work, the pieces are a self-portrait of a life’s practice, representing some of the most intimate and inventive music of Glass’s oeuvre. This rare concert performance of all 20 of his etudes is an evening of master piano works for the 21st century, featuring 10 pianists onstage. The Complete Philip Glass Piano Etudes will feature returning pianists such as Timo Andres, Aaron Diehl, Jenny Lin, and Clara Yang, as well as new collaborators like Lisa Moore, Vicky Chow, Inon Barnatan, Christian Sands, Daniela Liebman, and our very own UNC piano student Benny Yang! Produced by Pomegranate Arts