Philip Glass Remix Album Featuring Beck, Tyondai Braxton and More Set for Release 10/23

By: May. 09, 2012
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Philip Glass, one of America's most esteemed composers, will be the subject of a remix project due October 23 on Orange Mountain Music. The idea for the record came together during a conversation between Philip and his friend and new collaborator Beck. The pair recruited producer Hector Castillo (David Bowie, Björk, Lou Reed) to help assemble a collection of remixes of Glass' works by a list of critically acclaimed artists including Beck himself, Tyondai Braxton, Amon Tobin, Cornelius, Johann Johannsson, Nosaj Thing, Memory Tapes, Silver Alert and many others.

The remix project joins in the celebration of Glass' 75th birthday season, which features performances and events across the globe encompassing every facet of the composer's decades-long career as a preeminent American composer-opera, chamber music, orchestra music, dance, theatre works and more.

Glass' 75th birthday season began with the inaugural Days and Nights Festival in Carmel Valley, CA-curated by Glass himself-and has featured the first performance of a Glass piece by the New York Philharmonic; the world premiere of Glass' Symphony No. 9 by Bruckner Orchestra Linz in Austria before the symphony's American premiere at Carnegie Hall; and a week of events curated by the composer for the Park Avenue Armory's Tune-In Music Festival. Glass' 75th birthday season goes on to include the return of his first and most revered opera Einstein on the Beach and concludes with the World Premiere of The Perfect American, a new opera about the death of Walt Disney, in January 2013. In addition to numerous live performances, Glass' 75th birthday season sees the publication of the composer's first ever recollection of a life in music, due out in 2012.

For more than five decades, Glass continues to be at the forefront of contemporary music and art. 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. By 1974, Glass had a number of innovative projects, creating a large collection of new music for The Philip Glass Ensemble, and for the Mabou Mines Theater Company. This period culminated in Music in Twelve Parts, and the landmark opera, Einstein on the Beach for which he collaborated with Robert Wilson.

Since Einstein, Glass has expanded his repertoire to include music for opera, dance, theater, chamber ensemble, orchestra, and film. His scores have received Academy Award nominations (Kundun, The Hours, Notes on a Scandal) and a Golden Globe (The Truman Show). Several new works have been unveiled, including Book of Longing, a collaboration with Leonard Cohen (2007, Luminato, Toronto Festival of Arts and Creativity) and Appomattox (2007, San Francisco Opera), an opera about the end of the Civil War. In celebration of Glass' 75th anniversary season his Symphony No. 9 premiered on New Year's Day 2012 in Linz, Austria; Einstein on the Beach has embarked on its first world tour in over 20 years; and Glass curated the 2012 Tune-In Festival at New York's Park Ave. Armory. Glass continues to tour solo and with The Philip Glass Ensemble and is set to publish his first ever recollection of a life in music; his newest opera The Perfect American, about the death of Walt Disney, premieres in early 2013.

Photo courtesy PhilipGlass.com



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