An All-Glass Evening: Kronos Honors a Musical Visionary
To celebrate the 90th birthday of the legendary Philip Glass, Kronos Quartet presents a vibrant program dedicated to one of the most influential voices of our time. This all-Glass evening journeys through the composer’s iconic string quartets, evocative film scores for Mishima and Dracula, and the powerful Quartet Satz from 50 for the Future. The program also highlights bold reimaginings of Glass’s music by Brian Carpenter and Aftab Darvishi, alongside works by artists inspired by his legacy, including Jlin, Foday Musa Suso, and Michael Riesman. With their long and profound history of collaboration with Glass, Kronos brings both reverence and freshness to this celebratory performance—honoring his singular vision while showcasing the creative dialogue it has sparked across generations.
For 50 years, San Francisco’s Kronos Quartet — David Harrington (violin), Gabriela Díaz (violin), Ayane Kozasa (viola), and Paul Wiancko (cello) — has challenged and reimagined what a string quartet can be. Founded at a time when the form was largely centered on long-established, Western European traditions, Kronos has been at the forefront of revolutionizing the string quartet into a living art form. Today, with new voices and renewed vision, Kronos continues to forge the sound of the people and issues of our time.
Philip Glass is one of the most influential and widely recognized composers of the 20th and 21st centuries, a figure whose music has shaped how audiences experience both concert halls and popular culture. Born in Baltimore in 1937, Glass studied at the University of Chicago, Juilliard, and in Paris with Nadia Boulanger, before returning to New York to begin forging a distinctive voice. His early works helped define the movement often labeled “minimalism,” though Glass himself has preferred the term “music with repetitive structures.” What distinguished his style was not only the hypnotic use of rhythm and harmony, but also a sense of propulsion and emotional directness that drew in listeners far beyond the classical world.
Glass has composed across nearly every medium: symphonies, concertos, operas, chamber music, solo works, and more than 50 film scores, including Koyaanisqatsi, The Hours, and Notes on a Scandal. His operas — Einstein on the Beach, Satyagraha, and Akhnaten — revolutionized the form, blending music, theater, and striking visual design in ways that redefined what opera could be.
Over the decades, Glass has collaborated with a remarkable range of artists, from Ravi Shankar and David Bowie to choreographers, filmmakers, and playwrights. His works continue to be embraced by new generations of musicians and audiences for their accessibility, power, and sheer originality.
As he approaches his 90th birthday in January 2027, the world will be celebrating not only a prolific career but also a legacy of artistic daring and cultural impact that shows no signs of fading.
Photo: Steve Pyke
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