For many Czech artists, his first concert with poet Allen Ginsberg in 1996 at the Archa Theatre was an initiation. He had the same response on his next visit in 2016. Now Glass’s music will be heard at the Archa for the last time.
On Thursday, October 12, the Philip Glass Ensemble (PGE) will perform the composer’s early works in a program called Early Works, a group made up of virtuosos who are authorized to perform by Glass himself. He no longer flies to Europe due to his advanced age.
“These days, the Philip Glass Ensemble represents the most authentic way of performing my music. I am delighted that they are championing my music and pushing it further. They are introducing unique repertoire to new generations,” says Philip Glass, who founded PGE in 1968 in New York as a laboratory for his compositions, about the performance.
The ensemble’s purpose was to develop a performance practice that would meet the unprecedented technical and artistic demands of his compositions. The pioneering of this approach has influenced the development of contemporary music, and ensemble members remain inimitable interpreters of Glass’s work today.
“The Philip Glass Ensemble concert is an opportunity to introduce the audience to Glass’s early orchestral works. The concert will feature, among other works, the famous Music in Eight Parts, a selection from Einstein on the Beach, perhaps the most important theatrical work of the second half of the twentieth century, which Glass created with director Robert Wilson. In addition, a selection of music for the cult film Koyaanisqatsi and many other works,” says the theatre director
