Lara Downes

One of the most influential composers of our time, Philip Glass has had an extraordinary and unprecedented impact on the musical and intellectual life of our age. Glass has written 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 collaborated with artists ranging from Twyla Tharp to Allen Ginsberg, Leonard Cohen and 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.” Philip 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 is a self-portrait of a life’s practice, representing some of the most intimate and inventive music of Glass’s oeuvre. This distinctive concert offering of all 20 of Glass’s etudes features 10 pianists onstage, each offering a unique musical tribute to this masterful composer.