Biography
Philip Glass, born January 31, 1937, in Baltimore, Maryland, began his musical journey early, studying violin and flute, and composing by age twelve. He attended the University of Chicago, studying mathematics and philosophy alongside piano, then pursued formal composition training at the Juilliard School and with Darius Milhaud in Aspen. A Fulbright Scholarship took him to Paris to study with Nadia Boulanger, where he also worked on a film score with Ravi Shankar, immersing himself in Indian classical music and adopting its additive rhythms, which profoundly shaped his minimalist style of repetitive structures. Returning to New York in 1967, Glass formed the Philip Glass Ensemble and renounced his earlier modern-style works, experimenting with pieces like Strung Out and Music in the Shape of a Square, culminating in the ambitious Music in Twelve Parts (1971–1974).
To support himself in the late 1960s and 1970s, Glass worked as a plumber and taxi driver while refining his repetitive, hypnotic approach, which he preferred to call 'music with repetitive structures' rather than minimalism. His breakthrough came with the groundbreaking opera Einstein on the Beach (1976), co-created with Robert Wilson, launching his international fame. Glass's oeuvre expanded vastly, including over 30 operas (e.g., Satyagraha, The Voyage), 14 symphonies, 13 concertos, film scores for works like The Hours and The Thin Blue Line, and chamber music, evolving toward more lyrical, traditional forms like chaconnes while retaining repetitive elements.
Glass's legacy as a minimalist pioneer endures, bridging avant-garde and popular realms through collaborations across film, theater, and pop. His music's accessibility and conceptual rigor have made him one of America's most prolific and influential living composers, with soundtracks and symphonies inspired by David Bowie and Brian Eno further broadening his impact.
Fun Facts
- While establishing his career in the 1960s-1970s, Philip Glass supported himself by working as a plumber and driving taxis in New York.
- Glass once met poet Allen Ginsberg by chance in an East Village bookstore, leading to immediate collaboration on Wichita Vortex Sutra and later Hydrogen Jukebox.
- He renounced all his early compositions in a modern style (resembling Milhaud, Copland, Barber) after studying Indian music, starting fresh with repetitive structures.
- Glass formed the Philip Glass Ensemble in 1967, featuring seven musicians on amplified keyboards and woodwinds.
Musical Connections
Mentors/Influences
- Ravi Shankar - Assistant on film score; key influence on additive rhythms from Indian music (Unspecified film score in Paris/Northern India) [1960s]
- Nadia Boulanger - Composition teacher in Paris via Fulbright Scholarship (Formative studies leading to repetitive style) [1960s]
- Darius Milhaud - Composition studies in Aspen (Early training before renouncing modern style) [1950s]
Key Collaborators
- Robert Wilson - Co-creator of landmark opera (Einstein on the Beach)
- Allen Ginsberg - Music theater piece from chance bookstore meeting (Hydrogen Jukebox (1990), Wichita Vortex Sutra) [late 1980s]
- David Bowie/Brian Eno - Symphonic adaptation of album themes (Symphony Low (1992), Heroes Symphony) [1990s]
- Dennis Russell Davies - Commissioned symphonic cycle (Symphonies Low, No. 2, No. 3; Concerto Grosso) [1991-1996]
Connection Network
External Links
References
Heard on WWOZ
Philip Glass, Tenzin Choegyal, Scorchio Quartet, Alex Ring Gray has been played 1 time on WWOZ 90.7 FM, New Orleans' jazz and heritage station.