View source for Philip Glass

{{Short description|American composer (born 1937)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| birth_name   = <!-- for middle name "Morris" need RS prior to 2009 -- or later but definitely official-->
| image        = Philip Glass in Florence, Italy - 1993 (cropped).jpg
| caption      = Glass in 1993
| birth_date   = {{birth date and age|1937|01|31}}
| birth_place  = [[Baltimore]], [[Maryland]], U.S.
| known_for    = [[Minimal music]]
| occupation   = Composer
| works        = [[List of compositions by Philip Glass|List of compositions]]
| organizations = [[Philip Glass Ensemble]]
| website      = {{URL|philipglass.com}}
}}

'''Philip <!-- for middle name "Morris" need RS prior to 2009 -- or later but definitely official-->Glass''' (born January 31, 1937) is an American [[composer]] and [[pianist]]. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.naxos.com/podcasts/naxospodcasts.xml|title=Naxos Classical Music Spotlight podcast: Philip Glass Heroes Symphony|access-date=January 21, 2023|archive-date=April 2, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230402013453/https://www.naxos.com/podcasts/naxospodcasts.xml|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{citation|periodical=[[New York (magazine)|New York]]|url=http://nymag.com/news/features/influentials/16903/|title=The Most Influential People in Classical and Dance|date=May 8, 2006|access-date=November 10, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{citation|title=When less means more|url=https://www.theguardian.com/Archive/Article/0,4273,4306156,00.html|date=November 24, 2001|first=John|last=O'Mahony|access-date=November 10, 2008|periodical=[[The Guardian]]|location=London}}</ref><ref>''Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia'' (2000), "Glass, Philip," Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc., p. 659.  There, Glass is described as "today perhaps the world's most famous living composer."</ref> Glass's work has been associated with [[minimal music|minimalism]], being built up from repetitive [[Phrase (music)|phrases]] and shifting layers.<ref name="LLC1985">{{cite book|author=SPIN Media LLC|title=SPIN|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9ugCQfxwym0C|date=May 1985|publisher=SPIN Media LLC|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9ugCQfxwym0C/page/n54 55]–|issn=0886-3032}}</ref><ref>''Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia'' (2000), "Glass, Philip," Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc., p. 659. There, Glass is described as "today perhaps the world's most famous living composer."</ref> He described himself as a composer of "music with repetitive structures",<ref name="bio">{{citation|title=Biography|url=http://www.philipglass.com/bio.php|quote=The new musical style that Glass was evolving was eventually dubbed "minimalism". Glass himself never liked the term and preferred to speak of himself as a composer of "music with repetitive structures". Much of his early work was based on the extended reiteration of brief, elegant melodic fragments that wove in and out of an aural tapestry.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130804233252/http://www.philipglass.com/bio.php|url-status=dead|publisher=PhilipGlass.com|access-date=November 10, 2008|archive-date=August 4, 2013}}</ref> which he has helped to evolve stylistically.<ref>{{citation|url=http://nymag.com/nymetro/arts/music/pop/reviews/485/|title=Is Glass Half Empty?|periodical=[[New York (magazine)|New York]]|first=Ethan|last=Smith|date=January 18, 1999 |access-date=November 10, 2008}}</ref><ref name="appomattox">{{citation|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/arts/music/23smit.html|periodical=[[The New York Times]]|title=If Grant Had Been Singing at Appomattox|date=September 23, 2007|first=Steve|last=Smith}}</ref>

Glass founded the [[Philip Glass Ensemble]] in 1968. He has written 15 [[opera]]s, numerous [[chamber opera]]s and [[musical theatre]] works, 14 [[symphony|symphonies]], 12 [[concerto]]s, nine [[string quartet]]s, various other [[chamber music]] pieces, and many [[film score]]s. He has received nominations for four [[Grammy Awards]], including two for [[Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition|Best Contemporary Classical Composition]] for ''[[Satyagraha (opera)|Satyagraha]]'' (1987) and ''[[String Quartet No. 2 (Glass)|String Quartet No. 2]]'' (1988). He has received three [[Academy Award for Best Original Score]] nominations for [[Martin Scorsese]]'s ''[[Kundun (film)|Kundun]]'' (1997), [[Stephen Daldry]]'s ''[[The Hours (film)|The Hours]]'' (2002), and [[Richard Eyre]]'s ''[[Notes on a Scandal (film)|Notes on a Scandal]]'' (2006). He also composed the scores for ''[[Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters]]'' (1985), ''[[Hamburger Hill]]'' (1987), ''[[The Thin Blue Line (1988 film)|The Thin Blue Line]]'' (1988), ''[[Candyman (1992 film)|Candyman]]'' (1992), ''[[The Truman Show]]'' (1998), and ''[[The Illusionist (2006 film)|The Illusionist]]'' (2006).

Glass is known for composing the operas ''[[Einstein on the Beach]]'' (1976), ''[[Satyagraha (opera)|Satyagraha]]'' (1980), ''[[Akhnaten (opera)|Akhnaten]]'' (1983), ''[[The Voyage (opera)|The Voyage]]'' (1992), and ''[[The Perfect American]]'' (2013). He also wrote the scores for [[Broadway (theatre)|Broadway]] productions such as the revivals of ''[[The Elephant Man (play)|The Elephant Man]]'' (2002), ''[[The Crucible]]'' (2016), and ''[[King Lear]]'' (2019). For the latter he won the [[Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music in a Play]].

Glass has received many accolades, including a [[BAFTA Award]], a Drama Desk Award, and a [[Golden Globe Award]], as well as nominations for three [[Academy Awards]], four Grammy Awards, and a [[Primetime Emmy Award]]. He has also received the [[Ordre des Arts et des Lettres]] in 1995, the [[National Medal of Arts]] in 2010, the [[Kennedy Center Honors]] in 2018, and the [[Grammy Trustees Award]] in 2020. In 2025, he received a [[World Soundtrack Award – Lifetime Achievement|Lifetime Achievement]] from the [[World Soundtrack Academy]].

==Early life and education==
<!-- for middle name "Morris" need RS prior to 2009 -- or later but definitely official-->Glass was born in [[Baltimore]], [[Maryland]],<ref>{{cite AV media|people=[[Scott Hicks (director)|Scott Hicks]]|year=2007|title=[[Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts]]|time=33:20}}</ref><ref>''Contemporary Authors''. New Revision Series. Vol. 131 (Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2005):169–180.</ref> on January 31, 1937,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.biography.com/people/philip-glass-9313058 |title=Philip Glass Biography – Facts, Birthday, Life Story |publisher=Biography.com |access-date=March 29, 2013}}</ref> the son of Ida (née Gouline) and Benjamin Charles Glass.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.filmreference.com/film/57/Philip-Glass.html |title=Philip Glass Biography (1937–) |publisher=Filmreference.com |access-date=September 20, 2011}}</ref> His family were [[History of the Jews in Latvia|Latvian-Jewish]] and [[History of the Jews in Russia|Russian-Jewish]] emigrants.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Glass |first=Philip |title=Words Without Music |publisher=W.W. Norton & Co. |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-87140-438-1 |pages=16}}</ref><ref name=Mahoney>{{cite news|author=John O'Mahony|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2001/nov/24/arts.highereducation1|title=When less means more|work=[[The Guardian]]|date= November 24, 2001|access-date=March 29, 2013|location=London}}</ref><ref name="Staines2010">{{cite book|author=Joe Staines|title=The Rough Guide to Classical Music|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g1ga2hNiiAgC&pg=PA209|access-date=March 20, 2012|year=2010|publisher=Penguin|isbn=978-1-4053-8321-9|page=209}}</ref> His father owned a record store and his mother was a [[librarian]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/apr/26/philip-glass-words-without-music-memoir-review-fiona-maddocks|title=''Words Without Music'' review – Philip Glass's deft, quietly witty memoir|last=Maddocks|first=Fiona|date=April 26, 2015|newspaper=The Guardian|issn=0261-3077|access-date=March 27, 2016}}</ref> In his memoir, Glass recalls that at the end of [[World War&nbsp;II]] his mother aided Jewish [[Holocaust survivors]], inviting recent arrivals to America to stay at their home until they could find a job and a place to live.<ref name=Glass>Glass, Philip. ''Words Without Music: A Memoir'', New York: W. W. Norton. (2016) {{ISBN|1-63149-143-1}}</ref>{{rp|14}} She developed a plan to help them learn English and develop skills so they could find work.<ref name=Glass/>{{rp|15}} His sister, Sheppie, would later do similar work as an active member of the [[International Rescue Committee]].<ref name=Glass/>{{rp|15}}

Glass developed his appreciation of music from his father, discovering later that his father's side of the family had many musicians. His cousin Cevia was a [[classical pianist]], while others had been in [[vaudeville]]. He learned his family was also related to [[Al Jolson]].<ref name=Glass/>{{rp|16}} Glass's father often received promotional copies of new recordings at his music store. Glass spent many hours listening to them, developing his knowledge of and taste in music. This openness to modern sounds affected Glass at an early age:{{blockquote|My father was self-taught, but he ended up having a very refined and rich knowledge of classical, chamber, and contemporary music. Typically he would come home and have dinner, and then sit in his armchair and listen to music until almost midnight. I caught on to this very early, and I would go and listen with him.<ref name=Glass/>{{rp|17}}}}

The elder Glass promoted both new recordings and a wide selection of composers to his customers, sometimes convincing them to try something new by allowing them to return records they did not like.<ref name=Glass/>{{rp|17}} His store soon developed a reputation as Baltimore's leading source of modern music.<ref name="WSJ 2015">{{cite news | title=Composer Philip Glass's Childhood Gig | work=The Wall Street Journal | date=May 12, 2015 | url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/composer-philip-glasss-childhood-gig-1431444915 | access-date=June 26, 2021}}</ref> Glass built a sizable record collection from the unsold records in his father's store, including modern classical music such as [[Paul Hindemith|Hindemith]], [[Béla Bartók|Bartók]], [[Arnold Schoenberg|Schoenberg]],<ref name="wiseguy" /> [[Dmitri Shostakovich|Shostakovich]] and Western classical music including [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven's]] string quartets and [[Franz Schubert|Schubert]]'s [[Piano Trio No. 1 (Schubert)|B{{music|b}} Piano Trio]]. Glass cites Schubert's work as a "big influence" growing up.<ref>{{citation |title=Philip Glass on making music with no frills |periodical=[[The Independent]] |date=June 29, 2007 |access-date=November 10, 2008 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/interview-philip-glass-on-making-music-with-no-frills-455067.html |location=London |archive-date=August 25, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110825090329/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/interview-philip-glass-on-making-music-with-no-frills-455067.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> In a 2011 interview, Glass stated that Franz Schubert—with whom he shares a birthday—is his favorite composer.<ref>{{cite news |last=Skipworth |first=Mark |date=January 31, 2011 |title=Philip Glass shows no signs of easing up |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/hay-festival/8291801/Philip-Glass-shows-no-signs-of-easing-up.html |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/hay-festival/8291801/Philip-Glass-shows-no-signs-of-easing-up.html |archive-date=January 11, 2022}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

He studied the flute as a child at the [[Peabody Preparatory]] of the [[Peabody Institute of Music]]. At the age of 15, he entered an accelerated college program at the [[University of Chicago]] where he studied mathematics and philosophy.<ref name="Rhein">[http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/vonrhein/ct-philip-glass-ae-1030-20161026-column.html "Philip Glass, winner of 2016 Tribune Literary Award, reflects on a life well composed"] by John von Rhein, ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'', October 26, 2016</ref> In Chicago, he discovered the [[serialism]] of [[Anton Webern]] and composed a [[Twelve-tone technique|twelve-tone]] [[string trio]].<ref name="Schwarz">{{harvnb|Schwarz|1996|p={{page needed|date=December 2020}}}}</ref> In 1954, Glass traveled to Paris, where he encountered the films of [[Jean Cocteau]], which made a lasting impression on him. He visited artists' studios and saw their work; Glass recalls, "the [[bohemianism|bohemian life]] you see in [Cocteau's] ''[[Orpheus (film)|Orphée]]'' was the life I ... was attracted to, and those were the people I hung out with."<ref name="Cott">Jonathan Cott, "Conversation Philip Glass on ''La Belle et la Bête'', booklet notes to the recording, [[Nonesuch Records|Nonesuch]] 1995</ref>

Glass studied at the [[Juilliard School of Music]] where the keyboard was his main instrument. His composition teachers included [[Vincent Persichetti]] and [[William Bergsma]]. Fellow students included [[Steve Reich]] and [[Peter Schickele]]. In 1959, he was a winner in the [[BMI Foundation]]'s BMI Student Composer Awards, an international prize for young composers. In the summer of 1960, he studied with [[Darius Milhaud]] at the summer school of the [[Aspen Music Festival]] and composed a violin concerto for a fellow student, Dorothy Pixley-Rothschild.<ref>Ev Grimes: "Interview: Education" in {{harvnb|Kostelanetz|1999|p=25}}</ref> After leaving Juilliard in 1962, Glass moved to [[Pittsburgh]] and worked as a school-based composer-in-residence in the public school system, composing various choral, chamber, and orchestral music.{{sfn|Potter|2000|p=253}}

==Career==
===1964–1966: Paris===
[[File:Nadia Boulanger 1925.jpg|thumb|Glass studied in Paris with [[Nadia Boulanger]].]]
In 1964, Glass received a [[Fulbright Scholarship]]; his studies in Paris with the eminent composition teacher [[Nadia Boulanger]], from autumn of 1964 to summer of 1966, influenced his work throughout his life, as the composer admitted in 1979: "The composers I studied with Boulanger are the people I still think about most—[[Johann Sebastian Bach|Bach]] and [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]]."{{sfn|Kostelanetz|1999|page=109}}

Glass later wrote in his autobiography ''Music by Philip Glass'' in 1987 that the new music performed at [[Pierre Boulez]]'s ''[[Domaine musical|Domaine Musical]]'' concerts in Paris lacked any excitement for him (with the notable exceptions of music by [[John Cage]] and [[Morton Feldman]]), but he was deeply impressed by new films and theatre performances. His move away from modernist composers such as Boulez and [[Karlheinz Stockhausen|Stockhausen]] was nuanced, rather than outright rejection: "That generation wanted disciples and as we didn't join up it was taken to mean that we hated the music, which wasn't true. We'd studied them at Juilliard and knew their music. How on earth can you reject [[Luciano Berio|Berio]]? Those early works of Stockhausen are still beautiful. But there was just no point in attempting to do their music better than they did and so we started somewhere else."<ref>{{cite news|last1=Wroe|first1=Nicholas|title=Play it again ...|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/oct/13/classicalmusicandopera.art1|access-date=April 19, 2016|work=The Guardian|date=October 13, 2007}}</ref>

During this time, he encountered revolutionary films of the [[French New Wave]], such as those of [[Jean-Luc Godard]] and [[François Truffaut]], which upended the rules set by an older generation of artists,<ref name="musicby">{{citation |title=Music by Philip Glass |location=New York |publisher=DaCapo Press |year=1985 |page=14 |last=Glass |first=Philip |isbn=0-06-015823-9 }}</ref> and Glass made friends with American visual artists (the sculptor [[Richard Serra]] and his wife [[Nancy Graves]]),<ref name="Potter, pp. 266–269">{{harvnb|Potter|2000|pp=266–269}}</ref> actors and directors ([[JoAnne Akalaitis]], [[Ruth Maleczech]], [[David Warrilow]], and [[Lee Breuer]], with whom Glass later founded the experimental theatre group [[Mabou Mines]]). Together with Akalaitis (they married in 1965), Glass in turn attended performances by theatre groups including [[Jean-Louis Barrault]]'s [[Odéon]] theatre, [[The Living Theatre]] and the [[Berliner Ensemble]] in 1964 to 1965.{{sfn|Potter|2000|p=255}} These significant encounters resulted in a collaboration with Breuer for which Glass contributed music for a 1965 staging of [[Samuel Beckett]]'s ''Comédie'' (''[[Play (play)|Play]]'', 1963). The resulting piece (written for two [[soprano saxophone]]s) was directly influenced by the play's open-ended, repetitive and almost musical structure and was the first one of a series of four early pieces in a minimalist, yet still [[Consonance and dissonance|dissonant]], idiom.<ref name="Schwarz" /> After ''Play'', Glass also acted in 1966 as music director of a Breuer production of [[Brecht]]'s ''[[Mother Courage and Her Children]]'', featuring the theatre score by [[Paul Dessau]].

In parallel with his early excursions in experimental theatre, Glass worked in winter 1965 and spring 1966 as a music director and composer{{sfn|Potter|2000|pp=257–258}} on a film score (''[[Chappaqua (film)|Chappaqua]]'', Conrad Rooks, 1966) with [[Ravi Shankar]] and [[Alla Rakha]], which added another important influence on Glass's musical thinking. His distinctive style arose from his work with Shankar and Rakha and their perception of rhythm in [[Indian classical music|Indian music]] as being entirely additive. He renounced all his compositions in a moderately modern style resembling [[Darius Milhaud|Milhaud]]'s, [[Aaron Copland]]'s, and [[Samuel Barber]]'s, and began writing pieces based on repetitive structures of Indian music and a sense of time influenced by Samuel Beckett: a piece for two actresses and chamber ensemble, a work for chamber ensemble and his first numbered string quartet (No. 1, 1966).<ref>Joan La Barbara: "Philip Glass and Steve Reich: Two from the Steady State School" in {{harvnb|Kostelanetz|1999|pages=40–41}}</ref>

Glass then left Paris for northern India in 1966, where he came in contact with [[Tibet]]an refugees and began to gravitate towards [[Buddhism]]. He met [[Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama|Tenzin Gyatso]], the 14th [[Dalai Lama]], in 1972, and has been a strong supporter of the Tibetan independence ever since.

===1967–1974: Minimalism: From ''Strung Out'' to ''Music in 12 Parts''===
{{See also|Minimalist music}}
[[File:86 St 2 Av Jan 2017 17.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|[[Chuck Close]]'s portrait of Glass in the [[New York City Subway]]'s [[86th Street station (Second Avenue Subway)|86th Street station]]]]
{{quote box||align=|width=25em|bgcolor = MistyRose|quote=Glass' musical style is instantly recognizable, with its trademark churning [[ostinato]]s, undulating [[arpeggio]]s and repeating rhythms that morph over various lengths of time atop broad fields of tonal harmony. That style has taken permanent root in our pop-middlebrow sensibility. Glass' music is now indelibly a part of our cultural [[lingua franca]], just a click away on YouTube.|source=John von Rhein, ''Chicago Tribune'' writer<ref name=Rhein />}}

Shortly after arriving in New York City in March 1967, Glass attended a performance of works by [[Steve Reich]] (including the ground-breaking minimalist piece ''[[Piano Phase]]''), which left a deep impression on him; he simplified his style and turned to a radical "[[consonance and dissonance|consonant]] vocabulary".<ref name=Schwarz /> Finding little sympathy from traditional performers and performance spaces, Glass eventually formed an ensemble with fellow ex-student [[Jon Gibson (minimalist musician)|Jon Gibson]], and others, and began performing mainly in art galleries and studio lofts of [[SoHo]]. The visual artist Richard Serra provided Glass with Gallery contacts, while both collaborated on various sculptures, films and installations; from 1971 to 1974, he was Serra's regular studio assistant.<ref name="Potter, pp. 266–269" /><ref>Richard Serra, ''Writings Interviews'', Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1994, p. 7</ref>

Between summer of 1967 and the end of 1968, Glass composed nine works, including ''Strung Out'' (for amplified solo violin, composed in summer of 1967), ''Gradus'' (for solo saxophone, 1968), ''Music in the Shape of a Square'' (for two flutes, composed in May 1968, an homage to [[Erik Satie]]), ''How Now'' (for solo piano, 1968) and ''1+1'' (for amplified tabletop, November 1968) which were "clearly designed to experiment more fully with his new-found minimalist approach".{{sfn|Potter|2000|p=277}} The first concert of Glass's new music was at [[Jonas Mekas]]'s Film-Makers Cinemathèque ([[Anthology Film Archives]]) in September 1968. This concert included the first work of this series with ''Strung Out'' (performed by the violinist Pixley-Rothschild) and ''Music in the Shape of a Square'' (performed by Glass and Gibson). The musical scores were tacked on the wall, and the performers had to move while playing. Glass's new works met with a very enthusiastic response by the audience which consisted mainly of visual and performance artists who were highly sympathetic to Glass's reductive approach.

Apart from his music career, Glass had a [[moving company]] with his cousin, the sculptor Jene Highstein, and also worked as a plumber and [[Taxicab|cab]] driver (during 1973 to 1978). He recounts installing a dishwasher and looking up from his work to see an astonished [[Robert Hughes (critic)|Robert Hughes]], ''Time'' magazine's art critic, staring at him.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://interlude.hk/philip-glass-composer-taxi-driver/|title=Philip Glass: Composer and...Taxi Driver?|date=September 26, 2015|website=Interlude.hk|language=en-US|access-date=November 7, 2019}}</ref> During this time, he made friends with other New York-based artists such as [[Sol LeWitt]], [[Nancy Graves]], [[Michael Snow]], [[Bruce Nauman]], [[Laurie Anderson]], and [[Chuck Close]] (who created a now-famous portrait of Glass).<ref>Glass in conversation with Chuck Close and William Bartman, in, Joanne Kesten (ed.), The Portraits Speak: Chuck Close in conversation with 27 of his subjects, A.R.T. Press, New York, 1997, p. 170</ref> (Glass returned the compliment in 2005 with ''A Musical Portrait of Chuck Close'' for piano.)

With ''1+1'' and ''Two Pages'' (composed in February 1969), Glass turned to a more "rigorous approach" to his "most basic minimalist technique, additive process",{{sfn|Potter|2000|p=252}} pieces which were followed in the same year by ''Music in Contrary Motion'' and ''Music in Fifths'' (a kind of homage to his composition teacher [[Nadia Boulanger]], who pointed out "[[hidden fifths]]" in his works but regarded them as cardinal sins). Eventually Glass's music grew less austere, becoming more complex and dramatic, with pieces such as ''Music in Similar Motion'' (1969), and ''Music with Changing Parts'' (1970). These pieces were performed by the [[Philip Glass Ensemble]] in the [[Whitney Museum of American Art]] in 1969 and in the [[Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum]] in 1970, often encountering hostile reaction from critics,<ref name=Schwarz /> but Glass's music was also met with enthusiasm from younger artists such as [[Brian Eno]] and [[David Bowie]] (at the Royal College of Art ca. 1970).{{sfn|Potter|2000|p=340}} Eno described this encounter with Glass's music as one of the "most extraordinary musical experiences of [his] life", as a "viscous bath of pure, thick energy", concluding "this was actually the most detailed music I'd ever heard. It was all intricacy, exotic [[harmonic]]s".<ref>Tim Page, booklet notes to the album ''Einstein on the Beach'', Nonesuch 1993</ref> In 1970, Glass returned to the theatre, composing music for the theatre group [[Mabou Mines]], resulting in his first minimalist pieces employing voices: ''Red Horse Animation'' and ''Music for Voices'' (both 1970, and premiered at the [[Paula Cooper Gallery]]).<ref>Booklet notes to the recording ''Early Voice'', Orange Mountain Music, 2002</ref>

After differences of opinion with Steve Reich in 1971,<ref name=Schwarz /> Glass formed the Philip Glass Ensemble (while Reich formed [[Steve Reich and Musicians]]), an amplified ensemble including keyboards, wind instruments (saxophones, flutes), and [[soprano]] voices.

Glass's music for his ensemble culminated in the four-hour-long ''[[Music in Twelve Parts]]'' (1971–1974), which began as a single piece with twelve instrumental parts but developed into a cycle that summed up Glass's musical achievement since 1967, and even transcended it—the last part features a [[Twelve-tone technique|twelve-tone]] theme, sung by the soprano voice of the ensemble. "I had broken the rules of [[modernism (music)|modernism]] and so I thought it was time to break some of my own rules", according to Glass.<ref name=timpage>Tim Page: "Music in 12 Parts" in {{harvnb|Kostelanetz|1999|page=98}}</ref> Though he finds the term minimalist inaccurate to describe his later work, Glass does accept this term for pieces up to and including ''Music in 12 Parts'', excepting this last part which "was the end of minimalism" for Glass. As he pointed out: "I had worked for eight or nine years inventing a system, and now I'd written through it and come out the other end."<ref name=timpage /> He now prefers to describe himself as a composer of "music with repetitive structures".<ref name=Rhein/>

===1975–1979: Another Look at Harmony: The Portrait Trilogy===
[[File:Einstein on the beach 2.jpg|thumb|A scene from a 2017 rehearsal of ''[[Einstein on the Beach]]'', a 1975 opera by Glass in [[Dortmund]], Germany]]
{{External media|image1=[http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/mapplethorpe-philip-glass-and-robert-wilson-ar00214 ''Philip Glass and Robert Wilson'' (1976)] by [[Robert Mapplethorpe]]|image2=[http://it-was-like-this.blogspot.com.au/2011/12/zen-and-art-of-mapplethorpe.html ''Philip Glass and Robert Wilson'' (2008)] by Georgia Oetker}}
Glass continued his work with a series of instrumental works, called ''Another Look at Harmony'' (1975–1977). For Glass, this series demonstrated a new start, hence the title: "What I was looking for was a way of combining harmonic progression with the rhythmic structure I had been developing, to produce a new overall structure. ... I'd taken everything out with my early works and it was now time to decide just what I wanted to put in—a process that would occupy me for several years to come."<ref name="timpage" />

Parts 1 and 2 of ''Another Look at Harmony'' were included in a collaboration with [[Robert Wilson (director)|Robert Wilson]], a piece of musical theater later designated by Glass as the first opera of his portrait opera trilogy: ''[[Einstein on the Beach]]''. Composed in spring to fall of 1975 in close collaboration with Wilson, Glass's first opera was first premiered in summer 1976 at the [[Festival d'Avignon]], and in November of the same year to a mixed and partly enthusiastic reaction from the audience at the [[Metropolitan Opera]] in New York City. Scored for the Philip Glass Ensemble, solo violin, chorus, and featuring actors (reciting texts by [[Christopher Knowles (poet)|Christopher Knowles]], [[Lucinda Childs]] and Samuel M. Johnson), Glass's and Wilson's essentially plotless opera was conceived as a "[[metaphorical]] look at [[Albert Einstein]]: scientist, humanist, amateur musician—and the man whose theories ... led to the splitting of the atom", evoking [[nuclear holocaust]] in the climactic scene, as critic [[Tim Page (music critic)|Tim Page]] pointed out.<ref name="ReferenceA">Tim Page, liner notes to the recording of ''Einstein on the Beach'', Nonesuch Records 1993</ref> As with ''Another Look at Harmony'', "''Einstein'' added a new functional harmony that set it apart from the early conceptual works".<ref name="ReferenceA" /> Composer [[Tom Johnson (composer)|Tom Johnson]] came to the same conclusion, comparing the solo violin music to [[Johann Sebastian Bach]], and the "organ figures ... to those [[Alberti bass]]es [[Mozart]] loved so much".{{sfn|Kostelanetz|1999|page=58}} The piece was praised by ''[[The Washington Post]]'' as "one of the seminal artworks of the century".

''Einstein on the Beach'' was followed by further music for projects by the theatre group Mabou Mines such as ''Dressed like an Egg'' (1975), and again music for plays and adaptations from prose by [[Samuel Beckett]], such as ''[[The Lost Ones (Beckett)|The Lost Ones]]'' (1975), ''Cascando'' (1975), ''[[Mercier and Camier]]'' (1979). Glass also turned to other media; two multi-movement instrumental works for the Philip Glass Ensemble originated as music for film and TV: ''North Star'' (1977 score for the documentary ''[[North Star: Mark di Suvero]]'' by François de Menil and [[Barbara Rose]]) and four short cues for the children's TV series ''[[Sesame Street]]'' named ''Geometry of Circles'' (1979).

Another series, ''Fourth Series'' (1977–79), included music for chorus and organ ("Part One", 1977), organ and piano ("Part Two" and "Part Four", 1979), and music for a radio adaption of [[Constance DeJong (writer)|Constance DeJong]]'s novel ''Modern Love'' ("Part Three", 1978). "Part Two" and "Part Four" were used (and hence renamed) in two dance productions by choreographer [[Lucinda Childs]] (who had already contributed to and performed in ''Einstein on the Beach''). "Part Two" was included in ''Dance'' (a collaboration with visual artist [[Sol LeWitt]], 1979), and "Part Four" was renamed as ''Mad Rush'', and performed by Glass on several occasions such as the first public appearance of the [[14th Dalai Lama]] in New York City in fall 1981. The piece demonstrates Glass's turn to more traditional models: the composer added a conclusion to an open-structured piece which "can be interpreted as a sign that he [had] abandoned the radical non-narrative, undramatic approaches of his early period", as the pianist [[Steffen Schleiermacher]] points out.<ref>Steffen Schleiermacher, booklet notes to his recording of Glass's "Early Keyboard Music", MDG Records, 2001</ref>

In spring 1978, Glass received a commission from the [[De Nederlandse Opera|Netherlands Opera]] (as well as a [[Rockefeller Foundation]] grant) which "marked the end of his need to earn money from non-musical employment".{{sfn|Potter|2000|p=260}} With the commission Glass continued his work in music theater, composing his opera ''[[Satyagraha (opera)|Satyagraha]]'' (composed in 1978–1979, premiered in 1980 at Rotterdam), based on the early life of [[Mahatma Gandhi]] in South Africa, [[Leo Tolstoy]], [[Rabindranath Tagore]], and [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] For ''Satyagraha'', Glass worked in close collaboration with two "[[SoHo]] friends": the writer [[Constance DeJong (writer)|Constance deJong]], who provided the libretto, and the set designer Robert Israel. This piece was in other ways a turning point for Glass, as it was his first work since 1963 scored for symphony orchestra, even if the most prominent parts were still reserved for solo voices and chorus. Shortly after completing the score in August 1979, Glass met the conductor [[Dennis Russell Davies]], whom he helped prepare for performances in Germany (using a piano-four-hands version of the score); together they started to plan another opera, to be premiered at the [[Staatsoper Stuttgart|Stuttgart State Opera]].<ref name=musicby />

===1980–1986: Completing the Portrait Trilogy: ''Akhnaten'' and beyond===
[[File:Gandhi in Berlin (Satyagraha).jpg|thumb|A scene from a 2017 performance in [[Berlin]] of ''[[Satyagraha (opera)|Satyagraha]]'', an opera by Glass]]

While planning a third part of his "Portrait Trilogy", Glass turned to smaller music theatre projects such as the non-narrative ''Madrigal Opera'' (for six voices and violin and viola, 1980), and ''[[The Photographer (opera)|The Photographer]]'', a biographic study on the photographer [[Eadweard Muybridge]] (1982). Glass also continued to write for the orchestra with the score of ''[[Koyaanisqatsi]]'' ([[Godfrey Reggio]], 1981–1982). Some pieces which were not used in the film (such as ''Façades'') eventually appeared on the album ''[[Glassworks (composition)|Glassworks]]'' (1982, CBS Records), which brought Glass's music to a wider public.

The "Portrait Trilogy" was completed with ''[[Akhnaten (opera)|Akhnaten]]'' (1982–1983, premiered in 1984), a vocal and orchestral composition sung in [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]], [[Biblical Hebrew]], and [[Ancient Egyptian]]. In addition, this opera featured an actor reciting ancient Egyptian texts in the language of the audience. ''Akhnaten'' was commissioned by the [[Stuttgart Opera]] in a production designed by [[Achim Freyer]]. It premiered simultaneously at the [[Houston Opera]] in a production directed by David Freeman and designed by [[Peter Sellars]]. At the time of the commission, the Stuttgart Opera House was undergoing renovation, necessitating the use of a nearby playhouse with a smaller orchestra pit. Upon learning this, Glass and conductor Dennis Russell Davies visited the playhouse, placing music stands around the pit to determine how many players the pit could accommodate. The two found they could not fit a full orchestra in the pit. Glass decided to eliminate the violins, which had the effect of "giving the orchestra a low, dark sound that came to characterize the piece and suited the subject very well".<ref name=musicby /> As Glass remarked in 1992, ''Akhnaten'' is significant in his work since it represents a "first extension out of a [[triad (music)|triadic harmonic]] language", an experiment with the [[polytonality]] of his teachers [[Vincent Persichetti|Persichetti]] and [[Darius Milhaud|Milhaud]], a musical technique which Glass compares to "an optical illusion, such as in the paintings of [[Josef Albers]]".{{sfn|Kostelanetz|1999|page=269}}

Glass again collaborated with [[Robert Wilson (director)|Robert Wilson]] on another opera, ''[[The Civil Wars: A Tree Is Best Measured When It Is Down|the CIVIL warS]]'' (1983, premiered in 1984), which also functioned as the final part (the Rome section) of Wilson's epic work by the same name, originally planned for an "international arts festival that would accompany the Olympic Games in Los Angeles".<ref>David Wright, booklet notes to the first recording of the opera, released on Nonesuch Records, 1999</ref> (Glass also composed a prestigious work for chorus and orchestra for the opening of the Games, ''The Olympian: Lighting of the Torch and Closing ''). The premiere of ''The CIVIL warS'' in Los Angeles never materialized{{Clarify|date=October 2022}} and the opera was in the end premiered at the Opera of Rome. Glass's and Wilson's opera includes musical settings of Latin texts by the 1st-century-Roman playwright [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]] and allusions to the music of [[Giuseppe Verdi]] and from the [[American Civil War]], featuring the 19th century figures [[Giuseppe Garibaldi]] and [[Robert E. Lee]] as characters.

In the mid-1980s, Glass produced "works in different media at an extraordinarily rapid pace".{{sfn|Schwarz|1996|p=151}} Projects from that period include music for dance ([[Glass Pieces]] choreographed for [[New York City Ballet]] by [[Jerome Robbins]] in 1983 to a score drawn from existing Glass compositions created for other media including an excerpt from ''Akhnaten''; and ''In the Upper Room'', [[Twyla Tharp]], 1986), music for theatre productions ''[[Endgame (play)|Endgame]]'' (1984) and ''[[String Quartet No. 2 (Glass)|Company]]'' (1983). Beckett vehemently disapproved of the production of ''Endgame'' at the [[American Repertory Theater]] (Cambridge, Massachusetts), which featured [[JoAnne Akalaitis]]'s direction and Glass's ''Prelude'' for timpani and double bass, but in the end, he authorized the music for ''Company'', four short, intimate pieces for [[string quartet]] that were played in the intervals of the dramatization. This composition was initially regarded by the composer as a piece of [[Gebrauchsmusik]] ('music for use')—"like salt and pepper ... just something for the table", as he noted.<ref>{{cite magazine|first=John|last=Seabrook|author-link=John Seabrook|title=Glass's Master Class|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]|date=March 20, 2006|access-date=September 27, 2021|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/03/20/glasss-master-class}}</ref> Eventually ''Company'' was published as Glass's [[String Quartet No. 2 (Glass)|String Quartet No. 2]] and in a version for string orchestra, being performed by ensembles ranging from student orchestras to renowned formations such as the [[Kronos Quartet]] and the [[Kremerata Baltica]].

This interest in writing for the [[string quartet]] and the string orchestra led to a chamber and orchestral film score for ''[[Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters]]'' ([[Paul Schrader]], 1984–85), which Glass recently described as his "musical turning point" that developed his "technique of film scoring in a very special way".<ref name="watchnewspapers1">{{cite web|first=Greta|last=Stetson|title=Philip Glass wishes he had time to take a four-hour hike|url=http://watchnewspapers.com/printer_friendly/2919214|publisher=watchnewspapers.com|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130209013953/http://watchnewspapers.com/printer_friendly/2919214|archive-date=February 9, 2013|access-date=September 9, 2009}}</ref>

Glass also dedicated himself to vocal works with two sets of songs, ''Three Songs for chorus'' (1984, settings of poems by [[Leonard Cohen]], [[Octavio Paz]] and [[Raymond Lévesque]]), and a song cycle initiated by [[CBS Masterworks Records]]: ''[[Songs from Liquid Days]]'' (1985), with texts by songwriters such as [[David Byrne]], [[Paul Simon]], in which the [[Kronos Quartet]] is featured (as it is in ''Mishima'') in a prominent role. Glass also continued his series of operas with adaptations from literary texts such as ''The Juniper Tree'' (an opera collaboration with composer [[Robert Moran (composer)|Robert Moran]], 1984), [[Edgar Allan Poe]]'s ''[[The Fall of the House of Usher]]'' (1987), and also worked with novelist [[Doris Lessing]] on the opera ''[[The Making of the Representative for Planet 8 (opera)|The Making of the Representative for Planet 8]]'' (1985–86, and performed by the [[Houston Grand Opera]] and [[English National Opera]] in 1988).

===1987–1991: Operas and the turn to symphonic music===
Compositions such as ''Company'', ''Facades'' and String Quartet No. 3 (the last two extracted from the scores to ''Koyaanisqatsi'' and ''Mishima'') gave way to a series of works more accessible to ensembles such as the [[string quartet]] and [[symphony orchestra]], in this returning to the structural roots of his student days. In taking this direction his [[chamber music|chamber]] and orchestral works were also written in a more and more traditional and lyrical style. In these works, Glass often employs old musical forms such as the [[chaconne]] and the [[passacaglia]]—for instance in ''[[Satyagraha (opera)|Satyagraha]]'',<ref name=Schwarz /> the [[Violin Concerto No. 1 (Glass)|Violin Concerto No. 1]] (1987), [[Symphony No. 3 (Glass)|Symphony No. 3]] (1995), ''Echorus'' (1995) and also recent works such as [[Symphony No. 8 (Glass)|Symphony No. 8]] (2005),<ref>Philip Glass, booklet notes to the Album ''Symphony No. 8'', Orange Mountain Music, 2006</ref> and ''Songs and Poems for Solo Cello'' (2006).

A series of orchestral works originally composed for the concert hall commenced with the three-movement [[Violin Concerto No. 1 (Glass)|Violin Concerto No. 1]] (1987). This work was commissioned by the [[American Composers Orchestra]] and written for and in close collaboration with the violinist [[Paul Zukofsky]] and the conductor Dennis Russell Davies, who since then has encouraged the composer to write numerous orchestral pieces. The Concerto is dedicated to the memory of Glass's father: "His favorite form was the violin concerto, and so I grew up listening to the [[Violin Concerto (Mendelssohn)|Mendelssohn]], the [[Paganini]], the [[Violin Concerto (Brahms)|Brahms]] concertos. ... So when I decided to write a violin concerto, I wanted to write one that my father would have liked."<ref>{{citation |title=Singers Distinguish Themselves for Visitor |first=Lawrence A. |last=Johnson |periodical=[[Miami Herald]] |date=February 9, 2008 |url=http://www.miamiherald.com/tropical_life/story/402887.html |access-date=November 11, 2008 }}{{dead link|date=September 2010}}</ref> Among its multiple recordings, in 1992, the Concerto was performed and recorded by [[Gidon Kremer]] and the [[Vienna Philharmonic]]. This turn to orchestral music was continued with a symphonic trilogy of "portraits of nature", commissioned by the [[Cleveland Orchestra]], the [[Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra]], and the [[Atlanta Symphony Orchestra]]: ''[[The Light (Glass)|The Light]]'' (1987), ''The Canyon'' (1988), and ''[[Itaipu (composition)|Itaipu]]'' (1989).

While composing for symphonic ensembles, Glass also composed music for piano, with the cycle of five movements titled ''Metamorphosis'' (adapted from music for a theatrical adaptation of [[Franz Kafka]]'s ''[[The Metamorphosis]]''), and for the [[Errol Morris]] film ''[[The Thin Blue Line (1988 film)|The Thin Blue Line]]'', 1988. In the same year Glass met the poet [[Allen Ginsberg]] by chance in a book store in the [[East Village, Manhattan|East Village]] of New York City, and they immediately "decided on the spot to do something together, reached for one of Allen's books and chose ''[[Wichita Vortex Sutra]]''",<ref>Booklet notes by Jody Dalton to the album ''Solo Piano'', CBS, 1989</ref> a piece for reciter and piano which in turn developed into a music theatre piece for singers and ensemble, ''[[Hydrogen Jukebox]]'' (1990).

Glass also returned to chamber music; he composed two String Quartets ([[String Quartet No. 4 (Glass)|No. 4 ''Buczak'']] in 1989 and No. 5 in 1991), and chamber works which originated as incidental music for plays, such as ''Music from "The Screens"'' (1989/1990). This work originated in one of many theater music collaborations with the director [[JoAnne Akalaitis]], who originally asked the [[Music of the Gambia|Gambian]] musician [[Foday Musa Suso]] "to do the score [for [[Jean Genet]]'s ''[[The Screens]]''] in collaboration with a western composer".<ref>Booklet notes by Philip Glass to the album "Music from the Screens", Point Music, 1993</ref> Glass had already collaborated with Suso in the film score to ''[[Powaqqatsi]]'' ([[Godfrey Reggio]], 1988). ''Music from "The Screens"'' is on occasion a touring piece for Glass and Suso (one set of tours also included percussionist [[Yousif Sheronick]] ), and individual pieces found their way into the repertoire of Glass and the cellist Wendy Sutter. Another collaboration was a collaborative recording project with [[Ravi Shankar]], initiated by [[Peter Baumann]] (a member of the band [[Tangerine Dream]]), which resulted in the album ''[[Passages (Ravi Shankar and Philip Glass album)|Passages]]'' (1990).

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Glass's projects also included two highly prestigious opera commissions based on the life of explorers: ''[[The Voyage (opera)|The Voyage]]'' (1992), with a libretto by [[David Henry Hwang]], was commissioned by the [[Metropolitan Opera]] for the 500th anniversary of the discovery of America by [[Christopher Columbus]]; and ''[[White Raven (opera)|White Raven]]'' (1991), about [[Vasco da Gama]], a collaboration with Robert Wilson and composed for the closure of the [[Expo '98|1998 World Fair]] in Lisbon. Especially in ''The Voyage'', the composer "explore[d] new territory", with its "newly arching lyricism", "[[Jean Sibelius|Sibelian]] starkness and sweep", and "dark, brooding tone ... a reflection of its increasingly [[chromatic]] (and [[consonance and dissonance|dissonant]]) palette", as one commentator put it.<ref name="Schwarz" />

Glass remixed the [[S'Express]] song "Hey Music Lover", for the b-side of its 1989 release as a single.<ref>{{Cite episode|title=But Is it Music?|series=In Their Own Words; 20th-Century Composers|network= BBC |date= March 21, 2014 |number= 2 }}</ref>

===1991–1996: Cocteau trilogy and symphonies===
[[File:Philip Glass 003.jpg|thumb|upright|Glass performing in [[Florence]], Italy in 1993]]

After these operas, Glass began working on a symphonic cycle, commissioned by the conductor [[Dennis Russell Davies]], who told Glass at the time: "I'm not going to let you ... be one of those opera composers who never write a [[symphony]]".{{sfn|Maycock|2002|p=71}} Glass responded with a pair of three-movement symphonies (''[[Symphony No. 1 (Glass)|"Low"]]'' [1992], and [[Symphony No. 2 (Glass)|Symphony No. 2]] [1994]); his first in an ongoing series of symphonies is a combination of the composer's own musical material with themes featured in prominent tracks of the David Bowie/Brian Eno album ''[[Low (David Bowie album)|Low]]'' (1977),<ref>Booklet notes by Philip Glass to the album ''Low Symphony'', Point Music, 1993</ref> whereas Symphony No. 2 is described by Glass as a study in [[polytonality]]. He referred to the music of [[Arthur Honegger|Honegger]], [[Darius Milhaud|Milhaud]], and [[Heitor Villa-Lobos|Villa-Lobos]] as possible models for his symphony.<ref>Booklet notes by Philip Glass to the album ''Symphony No. 2'', Nonesuch, 1998</ref> With the Concerto Grosso (1992), [[Symphony No. 3 (Glass)|Symphony No. 3]] (1995), a Concerto for Saxophone Quartet and Orchestra (1995), written for the [[Raschèr Saxophone Quartet|Rascher Quartet]] (all commissioned by conductor Dennis Russell Davies), and ''Echorus'' (1994/95), a more transparent, refined, and intimate chamber-orchestral style paralleled the excursions of his large-scale symphonic pieces. In the four movements of his Third Symphony, Glass treats a 19-piece string orchestra as an extended chamber ensemble. In the third movement, Glass re-uses the chaconne as a formal device; one commentator characterized Glass's symphony as one of the composer's "most tautly unified works".<ref>Booklet notes by Philip Glass to the album ''Symphony No. 3'', Nonesuch, 2000</ref>{{sfn|Maycock|2002|p=90}} The third Symphony was closely followed by a fourth, subtitled ''[[Symphony No. 4 (Glass)|Heroes]]'' (1996), commissioned the [[American Composers Orchestra]]. Its six movements are symphonic reworkings of themes by Glass, David Bowie, and Brian Eno (from their album ''[["Heroes" (David Bowie album)|"Heroes"]]'', 1977); as in other works by the composer, it is also a hybrid work and exists in two versions: one for the concert hall, and another, shorter one for dance, choreographed by [[Twyla Tharp]].

Another commission by Dennis Russell Davies was a second series for piano, the ''Etudes'' for Piano (dedicated to Davies as well as the production designer [[Achim Freyer]]); the complete first set of ten Etudes has been recorded and performed by Glass himself. [[Bruce Brubaker]] and Dennis Russell Davies have each recorded the original set of six. Most of the Etudes are composed in the post-minimalist and increasingly lyrical style of the times: "Within the framework of a concise form, Glass explores possible sonorities ranging from typically Baroque passagework to Romantically tinged moods".<ref>Booklet notes by Oliver Binder to "American Piano music", Initativkreis Ruhr/Orange Mountain Music 2009</ref> Some of the pieces also appeared in different versions such as in the theatre music to Robert Wilson's ''Persephone'' (1994, commissioned by the [[Relache (ensemble)|Relache Ensemble]]) or ''Echorus'' (a version of Etude No. 2 for two violins and string orchestra, written for Edna Mitchell and [[Yehudi Menuhin]] 1995).

Glass's prolific output in the 1990s continued to include operas with an opera [[triptych]] (1991–1996), which the composer described as an "homage" to writer and film director [[Jean Cocteau]], based on his prose and cinematic work: ''[[Orpheus (film)|Orphée]]'' (1950), ''[[Beauty and the Beast (1946 film)|La Belle et la Bête]]'' (1946), and the novel ''[[Les Enfants terribles]]'' (1929, later made into a film by Cocteau and [[Jean-Pierre Melville]], 1950). In the same way the triptych is also a musical homage to the work of the group of French composers associated with Cocteau, [[Les Six]] (and especially to Glass's teacher Darius Milhaud), as well as to various 18th-century composers such as [[Christoph Willibald Gluck|Gluck]] and [[Johann Sebastian Bach|Bach]] whose music featured as an essential part of the films by Cocteau.

The inspiration of the first part of the trilogy, ''Orphée'' (composed in 1991, and premiered in 1993 at the [[American Repertory Theatre]]) can be conceptually and musically traced to Gluck's opera ''[[Orfeo ed Euridice]]'' (''Orphée et Euridyce'', 1762/1774),<ref name=Schwarz /> which had a prominent part in Cocteau's 1949 film ''Orphee''.<ref>Paul Barnes in his booklet notes to the album "The Orphée Suite for Piano, Orange Mountain Music, 2003</ref> One theme of the opera, the death of [[Eurydice]], has some similarity to the composer's personal life: the opera was composed after the unexpected death in 1991 of Glass's wife, artist [[Candy Jernigan]]: "... One can only suspect that Orpheus' grief must have resembled the composer's own", K. Robert Schwartz suggests.<ref name=Schwarz /> The opera's "transparency of texture, a subtlety of instrumental color, ... a newly expressive and unfettered vocal writing"<ref name=Schwarz /> was praised, and ''[[The Guardian]]'s'' critic remarked "Glass has a real affinity for the French text and sets the words eloquently, underpinning them with delicately patterned instrumental textures".<ref>{{citation |first=Andrew |last=Clements |periodical=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |date=June 2, 2005 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2005/jun/02/classicalmusicandopera |title=Orphée |access-date=November 11, 2008 }}</ref>

For the second opera, ''La Belle et la Bête'' (1994, scored for either the Philip Glass Ensemble or a more conventional chamber orchestra), Glass replaced the soundtrack (including [[Georges Auric]]'s film music) of Cocteau's film, wrote "a new fully operatic score and synchronize[d] it with the film".<ref name=Cott /> This reimagining of a score took what had been common in turning opera into film and turned it on its head, turning film into opera. This brought the music that would otherwise be subordinate to the film to the forefront so that the two were equal with each other; taking a new spin on an old tradition.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Novak |first=Jelena |date=2011 |title=Throwing the Voice, Catching the Body: Opera and ventriloquism in Philip Glass/ Jean Cocteau's 'La Belle et la Bête' |url=http://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/10.3828/msmi.2011.7 |journal=Music, Sound, and the Moving Image |language=en |volume=5 |issue=2 |page=140 |doi=10.3828/msmi.2011.7 |issn=1753-0768|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The final part of the triptych returned again to a more traditional setting with the "Dance Opera" ''[[Les Enfants terribles (opera)|Les Enfants terribles]]'' (1996), scored for voices, three pianos and dancers, with choreography by [[Susan Marshall (choreographer)|Susan Marshall]]. The characters are depicted by both singers and dancers. The scoring of the opera evokes Bach's [[harpsichord concertos (J. S. Bach)|Concerto for Four Harpsichords]], but in another way also "the snow, which falls relentlessly throughout the opera ... bearing witness to the unfolding events. Here time stands still. There is only music, and the movement of children through space" (Glass).<ref>{{citation |first=Michael |last=Zwiebach |title=Arrested Development |periodical=San Francisco Classical Voice |date=October 7, 2006 |url=http://www.sfcv.org/arts_revs/lesenfants_10_10_06.php |access-date=November 11, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080921021529/http://www.sfcv.org/arts_revs/lesenfants_10_10_06.php |archive-date=September 21, 2008 }}</ref><ref>Philip Glass, booklet notes to the 1996/1997 recording of ''Les Enfants terribles'', Orange Mountain Music, 2005</ref>

===1997–2004: Symphonies, opera, and concertos===
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Glass's lyrical and romantic styles peaked with a variety of projects: operas, theatre and film scores ([[Martin Scorsese]]'s ''[[Kundun]]'', 1997, [[Godfrey Reggio]]'s ''[[Naqoyqatsi]]'', 2002, and [[Stephen Daldry]]'s ''[[The Hours (film)|The Hours]]'', 2002), a series of five concerts, and three symphonies centered on orchestra-singer and orchestra-chorus interplay. Two symphonies, [[Symphony No. 5 (Glass)|Symphony No. 5]] "Choral" (1999) and [[Symphony No. 7 (Glass)|Symphony No. 7]] "[[Toltec]]" (2004), and the song cycle ''Songs of [[Milarepa]]'' (1997) have a meditative theme. The operatic Symphony No. 6 ''[[Plutonian Ode]]'' (2002) for soprano and orchestra was commissioned by the Brucknerhaus, Linz, and [[Carnegie Hall]] in celebration of Glass's sixty-fifth birthday, and developed from Glass's collaboration with [[Allen Ginsberg]] (poet, piano—Ginsberg, Glass), based on his poem of the same name.

Besides writing for the concert hall, Glass continued his ongoing operatic series with adaptions from literary texts: ''The Marriages of Zones 3, 4 and 5'' ([1997] story-libretto by Doris Lessing), ''[[In the Penal Colony (opera)|In the Penal Colony]]'' (2000, after the [[In the Penal Colony|story]] by [[Franz Kafka]]), and the chamber opera ''[[The Sound of a Voice (opera)|The Sound of a Voice]]'' (2003, with David Henry Hwang), which features the [[Pipa]], performed by [[Wu Man]] at its premiere. Glass also collaborated again with the co-author of ''Einstein on the Beach'', [[Robert Wilson (director)|Robert Wilson]], on ''[[Monsters of Grace]]'' (1998), and created a biographic [[Galileo Galilei (opera)|opera on the life of astronomer Galileo Galilei]] (2001).

In the early 2000s, Glass started a series of five concerti with the ''[[Tirol Concerto for Piano and Orchestra]]'' (2000, premiered by [[Dennis Russell Davies]] as conductor and soloist), and the ''[[Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists and Orchestra]]'' (2000, for the timpanist Jonathan Haas). The [[Cello Concerto (Glass)|Concerto for Cello and Orchestra]] (2001) had its premiere performance in Beijing, featuring cellist [[Julian Lloyd Webber]]; it was composed in celebration of his fiftieth birthday.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chesternovello.com/Default.aspx?TabId=2432&State_3041=2&workId_3041=12581 |title=Concerto for Cello and Orchestra on ChesterNovello website |publisher=Chesternovello.com |date=May 31, 2005 |access-date=September 20, 2011}}</ref> These concertos were followed by the concise and rigorously neo-Baroque [[Harpsichord Concerto (Glass)|Concerto for Harpsichord and Orchestra]] (2002), demonstrating in its transparent, chamber orchestral textures Glass's classical technique, evocative in the "improvisatory chords" of its beginning a [[toccata]] of [[Froberger]] or [[Girolamo Frescobaldi|Frescobaldi]], and 18th century music.<ref>Jillon Stoppels Dupree, Liner Notes to the album Concerto Project Vol.II, Orange Mountain, 2006</ref> Two years later, the concerti series continued with ''[[Piano Concerto No. 2 (Glass)|Piano Concerto No. 2: After Lewis and Clark]]'' (2004), composed for the pianist [[Paul Barnes (pianist)|Paul Barnes]]. The concerto celebrates the pioneers' trek across North America, and the second movement features a duet for piano and [[Native American flute]]. With the chamber opera ''The Sound of a Voice'', Glass's Piano Concerto No. 2 might be regarded as bridging his traditional compositions and his more popular excursions to [[World Music]], also found in ''Orion'' (also composed in 2004).

===2005–2007: ''Songs and Poems''===
[[File:Philip Glass 1.jpg|thumb|Glass in December 2007]]

''[[Waiting for the Barbarians (opera)|Waiting for the Barbarians]]'', an opera from [[J. M. Coetzee]]'s [[Waiting for the Barbarians|novel]] (with the libretto by [[Christopher Hampton]]), had its premiere performance in September 2005. Glass defined the work as a "social/political opera", as a critique on the [[Presidency of George W. Bush|Bush administration]]'s [[Iraq War|war]] in Iraq, a "dialogue about political [[crisis]]", and an illustration of the "power of art to turn our attention toward the human dimension of history".<ref>Philip Glass, notes to the premiere recording of "Waiting for the Barbarians, Orange Mountain Music 2008</ref> While the opera's themes are [[Imperialism]], [[apartheid]], and [[torture]], the composer chose an understated approach by using "very simple means, and the [[orchestration]] is very clear and very traditional; it's almost [[Classical period (music)|classical]] in sound", as the conductor Dennis Russell Davies notes.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4236740.stm |title=Entertainment &#124; Philip Glass opera gets ovation |work=BBC News |date=September 12, 2005 |access-date=September 20, 2011}}</ref><ref name=mercury>{{citation|first=Richard|last=Scheinin|periodical=[[San Jose Mercury News]]|date=October 7, 2007|title=Philip Glass's ''Appomattox'' Unremitting, Unforgiving}}</ref>

Two months after the premiere of this opera, in November 2005, Glass's [[Symphony No. 8 (Glass)|Symphony No. 8]], commissioned by the [[Bruckner Orchestra Linz]], was premiered at the [[Brooklyn Academy of Music]] in New York City. After three symphonies for voices and orchestra, this piece was a return to purely orchestral and abstract composition; like previous works written for the conductor Dennis Russell Davies (the 1992 [[Concerto Grosso]] and the 1995 Symphony No. 3), it features extended solo writing. Critic [[Allan Kozinn]] described the symphony's [[chromaticism]] as more extreme, more fluid, and its themes and textures as continually changing, morphing without repetition, and praised the symphony's "unpredictable orchestration", pointing out the "beautiful flute and [[harp]] variation in the melancholy second movement".<ref>[[Allan Kozinn]], "A First Hearing for a Glass Symphony," ''The New York Times'', November 4, 2005</ref> [[Alex Ross (music critic)|Alex Ross]], remarked that "against all odds, this work succeeds in adding something certifiably new to the overstuffed annals of the classical symphony. ... The musical material is cut from familiar fabric, but it's striking that the composer forgoes the expected bustling conclusion and instead delves into a mood of deepening twilight and unending night."<ref>{{citation|first=Alex|last=Ross|author-link=Alex Ross (music critic)|title=The Endless Scroll|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]|date=November 5, 2007|access-date=November 11, 2008|url=http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/musical/2007/11/05/071105crmu_music_ross}}</ref>

''The Passion of Ramakrishna'' (2006), was composed for the [[Pacific Symphony]] orchestra, the Pacific Chorale and the conductor [[Carl St. Clair]]. The 45 minutes choral work is based on the writings of Indian spiritual leader [[Ramakrishna]], which seem "to have genuinely inspired and revived the composer out of his old formulas to write something fresh", as one critic remarked, whereas another noted "The musical style breaks little new ground for Glass, except for the glorious [[George Frideric Handel|Handelian]] ending ... the composer's style ideally fits the devotional text".<ref>Timothy Mangan, [http://www.ocregister.com/entertainment/hall-145874-one-new.html "A stellar premiere"], ''[[Orange County Register]]'', September 18, 2006</ref><ref>Mark Swed, [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-sep-18-et-segerstrom18-story.html "Taking a sounding of the Segerstrom"], ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', September 18, 2006</ref>

A cello suite, composed for the cellist [[Wendy Sutter]], ''Songs and Poems for Solo Cello'' (2005–2007), was equally lauded by critics. It was described by Lisa Hirsch as "a major work, ... a major addition to the cello repertory" and "deeply Romantic in spirit, and at the same time deeply [[Baroque music|Baroque]]".<ref>{{citation |first=Lisa |last=Hirsch |title=Chambered Glass |periodical=San Francisco Classical Voice |date=September 28, 2007 |url=http://www.sfcv.org/2007/10/02/through-a-glass-brightly/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080616141808/http://www.sfcv.org/2007/10/02/through-a-glass-brightly/ |archive-date=June 16, 2008 |access-date=November 11, 2008 }}</ref> Another critic, [[Anne Midgette]] of ''The Washington Post'', noted the suite "maintains an unusual degree of directness and warmth"; she also noted a kinship to a major work by [[Johann Sebastian Bach]]: "Digging into the lower registers of the instrument, it takes flight in handfuls of notes, now gentle, now impassioned, variously evoking the minor-mode keening of [[klezmer]] music and the interior meditations of [[Cello Suites (Bach)|Bach's cello suites]]".<ref>{{citation|first=Anne|last=Midgette|author-link=Anne Midgette|title=New CDs From Musicians Who Play the Field|date=March 9, 2008|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/07/AR2008030700957_2.html|access-date=November 11, 2008|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref> Glass himself pointed out "in many ways it owes more to Schubert than to Bach".<ref name="autogenerated1">[[Nico Muhly]], [https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/may/22/philip-glass-nico-muhly "There will be people who are horrified by these ideas"], ''The Guardian'', May 22, 2009</ref>

In 2007, Glass also worked alongside [[Leonard Cohen]] on an adaptation of Cohen's poetry collection ''[[Book of Longing]]''. The work, which premiered in June 2007 in Toronto, is a piece for seven instruments and a vocal quartet, and contains recorded spoken word performances by Cohen and imagery from his collection.

''[[Appomattox (opera)|Appomattox]]'', an opera surrounding the events at the end of the American Civil War, was commissioned by the [[San Francisco Opera]] and premiered on October 5, 2007. As in ''Waiting for the Barbarians'', Glass collaborated with the writer [[Christopher Hampton]], and as with the preceding opera and Symphony No. 8, the piece was conducted by Glass's long-time collaborator Dennis Russell Davies, who noted "in his recent operas the bass line has taken on an increasing prominence,... (an) increasing use of melodic elements in the deep register, in the [[contrabass]], the [[contrabassoon]]—he's increasingly using these sounds and these textures can be derived from using these instruments in different combinations. ... He's definitely developed more skill as an orchestrator, in his ability to conceive melodies and harmonic structures for specific instrumental groups. ... what he gives them to play is very organic and idiomatic."<ref name=mercury />

Apart from this large-scale opera, Glass added a work to his catalogue of theater music in 2007, and continuing—after a gap of twenty years—to write music for the dramatic work of Samuel Beckett. He provided a "hypnotic" original score for a compilation of Beckett's short plays ''[[Act Without Words I]]'', ''[[Act Without Words II]]'', ''[[Rough for Theatre I]]'' and ''[[Eh Joe]]'', directed by JoAnne Akalaitis and premiered in December 2007. Glass's work for this production was described by ''[[The New York Times]]'' as "icy, repetitive music that comes closest to piercing the heart".<ref>{{citation|first=Ben|last=Brantley|author-link=Ben Brantley|title='Beckett Shorts'; When a Universe Reels, A Baryshnikov May Fall|periodical=[[The New York Times]]|date=December 19, 2007|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9401E5D8133DF93AA25751C1A9619C8B63 |access-date=November 11, 2008}}</ref>

===2008–present: Chamber music, concertos, and symphonies===
[[File:20.IX Book of Longing.jpg|thumb|Glass performing ''Book of Longing'' in [[Milan]] in September 2008]]

[[File:Philip Glass.jpg|thumb|''Philip Glass'' by [[Luis Alvarez Roure]], a 2016 oil on board portrait at the [[Smithsonian Institution]]'s [[National Portrait Gallery (United States)|National Portrait Gallery]] in [[Washington, D.C.]]]]

[[File:philip-glass_x4.jpg|thumb|Glass at the world premiere of ''Passacaglia for Piano'' at [[Musikhuset Aarhus]] in Denmark, 2017]]
Between 2008 and 2010, Glass continued to work on a series of chamber music pieces which started with ''Songs and Poems'': the ''Four Movements for Two Pianos'' (2008, premiered by Dennis Russell Davies and [[Maki Namekawa]] in July 2008), a ''Sonata for Violin and Piano'' composed in "the [[Brahms]] tradition" (completed in 2008, premiered by violinist Maria Bachman and pianist Jon Klibonoff in February 2009); a ''[[String sextet]]'' (an adaption of the Symphony No. 3 of 1995 made by Glass's musical director Michael Riesman) followed in 2009. ''Pendulum'' (2010, a one-movement piece for violin and piano), a second Suite of cello pieces for Wendy Sutter (2011), and ''Partita for solo violin'' for violinist Tim Fain (2010, first performance of the complete work 2011), are recent entries in the series.<ref>Corrina da Fonseca-Wollheim,[https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704782304574542181512990994 "Where Music Meets Science"], ''The Wall Street Journal'', November 24, 2009</ref>

Other works for the theater were a score for [[Euripides]]' ''[[The Bacchae]]'' (2009, directed by [[JoAnne Akalaitis]]), and ''[[Kepler (opera)|Kepler]]'' (2009), yet another operatic biography of a scientist or explorer. The opera is based on the life of 17th century astronomer [[Johannes Kepler]], against the background of the [[Thirty Years' War]], with a libretto compiled from Kepler's texts and poems by his contemporary [[Andreas Gryphius]]. It is Glass's first opera in German, and was premiered by the [[Bruckner Orchestra Linz]] and Dennis Russell Davies in September 2009. LA Times critic [[Mark Swed]] and others described the work as "[[oratorio]]-like"; Swed pointed out the work is Glass's "most chromatic, complex, psychological score" and "the orchestra dominates ... I was struck by the muted, glowing colors, the character of many orchestral solos and the poignant emphasis on bass instruments".<ref>{{cite news| url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2009/11/philip-glass-kepler-has-us-premiere-at-bam.html | work=Los Angeles Times | title=Culture Monster | date=November 19, 2009}}</ref>

In 2009 and 2010, Glass returned to the concerto genre. [[Violin Concerto No. 2 (Glass)|Violin Concerto No. 2]] in four movements was commissioned by violinist [[Robert McDuffie]], and subtitled "The American Four Seasons" (2009), as an homage to [[Antonio Vivaldi|Vivaldi]]'s set of concertos ''[[The Four Seasons (Vivaldi)|The Four Seasons]]''. It premiered in December 2009 by the [[Toronto Symphony Orchestra]], and was subsequently performed by the [[London Philharmonic Orchestra]] in April 2010.<ref>{{cite web |author=London Philharmonic Orchestra |url=http://shop.lpo.org.uk/performances/detail.asp?3829,63,0,0,0 |title=London Philharmonic Orchestra April 17, 2010 |publisher=Shop.lpo.org.uk |date=April 17, 2010 |access-date=September 20, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111001211923/http://shop.lpo.org.uk/performances/detail.asp?3829,63,0,0,0 |archive-date=October 1, 2011 }}</ref> The Double Concerto for Violin and Cello and Orchestra (2010) was composed for soloists Maria Bachmann and Wendy Sutter and also as a ballet score for the [[Nederlands Dans Theater]].<ref>Linda Matchan, [http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2009/01/11/glasss_music_keeps_films_moving/ "Glass's music keeps films moving"], ''Boston Globe'', January 11, 2009</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mariabachmann.com/schedule.html |title=Maria Bachmann Schedule |publisher=Mariabachmann.com |access-date=September 20, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714033508/http://www.mariabachmann.com/schedule.html |archive-date=July 14, 2011 |url-status=dead  }}</ref> Other orchestral projects of 2010 are short orchestral scores for films; to a multimedia presentation based on the novel ''[[Icarus at the Edge of Time]]'' by [[theoretical physicist]] [[Brian Greene]], which premiered on June 6, 2010, and the score for the Brazilian film ''[[Nosso Lar (film)|Nosso Lar]]'' (released in Brazil on September 3, 2010). Glass also donated a short work, ''Brazil'', to the video game ''[[Chime (video game)|Chime]]'', which was released on February 3, 2010.

In August 2011, Glass presented a series of music, dance, and theater performances as part of the Days and Nights Festival.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/08/arts/dance/dance.html| work=The New York Times | first=Claudia | last=La Rocco | title=Dance | date=May 5, 2011}}</ref> Along with the Philip Glass Ensemble, scheduled performers include [[Molissa Fenley]] and Dancers, [[John Moran (composer)|John Moran]] with [[Saori Tsukada]], as well as a screening of ''[[Dracula (1931 English-language film)|Dracula]]'' with Glass's score.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2011/02/philip-glass-carmel-festival.html?cid=6a00d8341c630a53ef014e5f7f110a970c | work=Los Angeles Times | title=Culture Monster | date=February 25, 2011}}</ref>

Other works completed since 2010 include [[Symphony No. 9 (Glass)|Symphony No. 9]] (2010–2011), [[Symphony No. 10 (Glass)|Symphony No. 10]] (2012), Cello Concerto No. 2 (2012, based on the film score to ''[[Naqoyqatsi]]'') as well as String Quartet No. 6 and No. 7. Glass's Ninth Symphony was co-commissioned by the Bruckner Orchestra Linz, the [[American Composers Orchestra]] and the [[Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra]]. The symphony's first performance took place on January 1, 2012, at the [[Brucknerhaus]] in Linz, Austria (Dennis Russell Davies conducting the Bruckner Orchestra Linz); the American premiere was on January 31, 2012, (Glass's 75th birthday), at Carnegie Hall (Dennis Russell Davies conducting the American Composers Orchestra), and the West Coast premiere with the [[Los Angeles Philharmonic]] under the baton of [[John Adams (composer)|John Adams]] on April 5.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.carnegiehall.org/article/box_office/events/evt_15302.html?selecteddate=01312012 |title=American Composers Orchestra – Tuesday, January 31, 2012 |publisher=Carnegie Hall |access-date=September 20, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110126060400/http://www.carnegiehall.org/article/box_office/events/evt_15302.html?selecteddate=01312012 |archive-date=January 26, 2011 }}</ref> Glass's Tenth Symphony, written in five movements, was commissioned by the [[Orchestre français des jeunes]] for its 30th anniversary. The symphony's first performance took place on August 9, 2012, at the [[Grand Théâtre de Provence]] in [[Aix-en-Provence]] under Dennis Russell Davies.<ref>{{cite web|last=Purvis |first=Bronwyn |url=http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2011/01/21/3118463.htm |title=Music is a place; Philip Glass in Hobart – ABC Hobart |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |date=January 21, 2011 |access-date=September 20, 2011}}</ref><ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/14/arts/music/philip-glass-at-the-metropolitan-museum-review.html?src=recg Kevin Smith, Glass's Players Warm Up for a Festival in August], ''The New York Times'', June 13, 2011</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Ayala |first=Ted |url=http://www.bachtrack.com/review-philip-glass-symphony-9-los-angeles-philharmonic |title=LAPO and John Adams perform West coast premiere of Philip Glass' Symphony No. 9 |publisher=Bachtrack |date=April 9, 2012 |access-date=April 10, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.philipglass.com/music/compositions/Symphony9.php |title=Philip Glass 'Symphony No. 9' at PhilipGlass.com |publisher=PhilipGlass.com |access-date=April 22, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120422134556/http://www.philipglass.com/music/compositions/Symphony9.php |archive-date=April 22, 2012 }}</ref>
The opera ''[[The Perfect American]]'' was composed in 2011 to a commission from [[Teatro Real]] Madrid.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chesternovello.com/default.aspx?TabId=2432&State_3041=2&workId_3041=45084 |title=Philip Glass ''The Perfect American'' at Chester Novello Music|publisher=ChesterNovello.com |access-date=April 22, 2012}}</ref> The libretto is based on a book of the same name by [[Peter Stephan Jungk]] and covers the final months of the life of [[Walt Disney]].<ref name=Huffington>{{cite news|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/10/philip-glass-the-perfect-american_n_1268629.html|title=Philip Glass' ''The Perfect American'' to Open in Madrid|work=[[HuffPost]]|access-date=April 22, 2012|date=February 10, 2012}}</ref> The world premiere was at the Teatro Real, Madrid, on January 22, 2013, with British [[baritone]] [[Christopher Purves]] taking the role of Disney.<ref name=Huffington /> The UK premiere took place on June 1, 2013, in a production by the [[English National Opera]] at the [[London Coliseum]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17831165 |title=Philip Glass Disney opera to get UK premiere at ENO|publisher=BBC |access-date=April 22, 2012|date=April 24, 2012}}</ref> The US premiere took place on March 12, 2017, in a production by [[Long Beach Opera]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.longbeachopera.org/gallery/repertoire/2017_The_Perfect_American/179|title=Repertoire & Gallery 2017 – The Perfect American|date=January 30, 2018|access-date=January 30, 2018|publisher=Long Beach Opera|archive-date=January 31, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180131023918/https://www.longbeachopera.org/gallery/repertoire/2017_The_Perfect_American/179|url-status=dead}}</ref> It was met with
mixed to negative reviews.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://articles.latimes.com/2013/oct/12/entertainment/la-et-cm-walt-disney-opera-20131012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131231093624/http://articles.latimes.com/2013/oct/12/entertainment/la-et-cm-walt-disney-opera-20131012|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 31, 2013|title=Does L.A. Opera lack the guts to stage ''The Perfect American''?|first=David|last=Ng|date=12 October 2013|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/02/arts/music/the-perfect-american-by-philip-glass-at-teatro-real.html|title=''The Perfect American'', by Philip Glass, at Teatro Real|first=Zachary|last=Woolfe|date=1 February 2013|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/jun/03/the-perfect-american-english-national-opera-review|title=''The Perfect American'' – review|first=Andrew|last=Clements|date=3 June 2013|work=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref>

His opera ''{{Interlanguage link|The Lost (opera){{!}}The Lost|fr|3=The Lost (opéra)}}'', based on a play by Austrian playwright and novelist [[Peter Handke]], ''Die Spuren der Verirrten'' (2007), premiered at the Musiktheater Linz in April 2013, conducted by Dennis Russell Davies and directed by [[David Pountney]].

On June 28, 2013, Glass's piano piece ''Two Movements for Four Pianos'' was premiered at the [[Museum Kunstpalast]], performed by [[Katia and Marielle Labèque]], Maki Namekawa, and Dennis Russell Davies.<ref>"Konzertprogramm" | Klavier-Festival Ruhr | Düsseldorf | Museum Kunstpalast | Robert-Schumann-Saal | 28. Juni 2013 | (printed program, German)</ref>

On January 17, 2014, Glass's collaboration with [[Angélique Kidjo]] ''Ifé: Three Yorùbá Songs for Orchestra'' premiered at the [[Philharmonie Luxembourg]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2014/01/17/angelique-kidjo-l-afrique-et-l-orchestre_4349715_3246.html|title=Angélique Kidjo, l'Afrique et l'orchestre|newspaper=Le Monde.fr|publisher=[[Le Monde]]|date=January 17, 2014|access-date=February 28, 2021}}</ref>

In May 2015, Glass's Double Concerto for Two Pianos was premiered by [[Katia and Marielle Labèque]], [[Gustavo Dudamel]] and the [[Los Angeles Philharmonic]].

Glass published his memoir, ''Words Without Music'', in 2015.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Philip|last=Glass|title=Words Without Music|year=2015|publisher=Liveright|isbn=978-0-87140-438-1}}</ref> His [[Symphony No. 11 (Glass)|11th symphony]], commissioned by the Bruckner Orchestra Linz, the [[Istanbul International Music Festival]], and the [[Queensland Symphony Orchestra]], premiered on January 31, 2017, Glass's 80th birthday, at Carnegie Hall, Dennis Russell Davies conducting the Bruckner Orchestra.<ref>[https://www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2017/1/31/0730/PM/Bruckner-Orchestra-Linz/ Bruckner Orchestra Linz – Celebrating Philip Glass's 80th Birthday], [[Carnegie Hall]], January 31, 2017</ref><ref>[http://philipglass.com/compositions/symphony-no-11/ Symphony No. 11], philipglass.com</ref>  On September 22, 2017, his Piano Concerto No. 3 was premiered by pianist [[Simone Dinnerstein]] with the strings of the chamber orchestra [[A Far Cry]] at [[Jordan Hall (Boston)|Jordan Hall]] at the [[New England Conservatory of Music]], Boston, Massachusetts.<ref>{{cite web |title=Dinnerstein brings a personal touch to Glass concerto premiere |url=http://newyorkclassicalreview.com/2017/09/dinnerstein-brings-a-personal-touch-to-glass-concerto-premiere|publisher=New York Classical Review|date=September 29, 2017|access-date=December 8, 2018}}</ref> Glass' String Quartet No. 8 was premiered by the JACK Quartet at Centennial Concert Hall in Winnipeg, Canada on February 1, 2018. The work was commissioned by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra New Music Festival, the [[Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra]], and [[Carnegie Hall]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Philip Glass's involvement with New Music Festival 'a huge deal' for Winnipeg symphony conductor |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/winnipeg-new-music-festival-philip-glass-alexander-mickelthwate-1.4506303|publisher=CBC|date=January 27, 2018|access-date=January 2, 2024}}</ref>

Glass's [[Symphony No. 12 (Glass)|12th symphony]] was premiered by the [[Los Angeles Philharmonic]] under [[John Adams (composer)|John Adams]] at the [[Walt Disney Concert Hall]] in Los Angeles on January 10, 2019. Commissioned by the orchestra, the work is based on David Bowie's 1979 album ''[[Lodger (album)|Lodger]]'', it completes Glass's trilogy of symphonies based on Bowie's Berlin Trilogy of albums.<ref>{{cite web |title=Philip Glass and L.A. Phil's Fantastic Voyage Through the Music of David Bowie and Brian Eno |url=https://www.laweekly.com/arts/philip-glass-and-la-phils-fantastic-voyage-through-the-music-of-david-bowie-and-brian-eno-10127958 |work=LA Weekly |date=January 14, 2019 |access-date=January 19, 2019 |archive-date=January 19, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190119124517/https://www.laweekly.com/arts/philip-glass-and-la-phils-fantastic-voyage-through-the-music-of-david-bowie-and-brian-eno-10127958 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In collaboration with stage auteur, performer and co-director (with Kirsty Housley) [[Phelim McDermott]], Glass composed the score for the new work ''Tao of Glass'', which premiered at the 2019 [[Manchester International Festival]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Roy |first1=Sanjoy |title=Tao of Glass review – golden odyssey through Philip Glass's music |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/jul/15/tao-of-glass-review-royal-exchange-manchester-philip-glass-phelim-mcdermott |website=The Guardian |date=July 15, 2019 |access-date=December 28, 2019}}</ref> before touring to the 2020 [[Perth Festival]].

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Glass continued composing, with three major works for opera and symphony premiering in 2021 and 2022. Glass' opera ''Circus Days and Nights'' was commissioned by Cirkus Cirkor.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cirkor.se/en/circus-days-and-nights/ |title=''Circus Days and Nights'' at Cirkus Cirkor.|publisher=CirkusCirkor.com |access-date=January 2, 2024}}</ref> The libretto by [[David Henry Hwang]] and Tilde Björfors is based on a book of poems by [[Robert Lax]]. The world premiere was at the [[Malmö Opera]] on May 29, 2021.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.davidhenryhwang.com/work-1/2022/4/7/circus-days-and-nights |title=''Circus Days and Nights''|date=April 7, 2022 |publisher=David Henry Hwang |access-date=January 2, 2024}}</ref> Glass's Symphony No. 14 was premiered by the LGT Young Soloists at the [[Royal College of Music]] in London on September 17, 2021. The work was commissioned by the orchestra.<ref>{{cite web |title=VC Young Artists LGT Young Soloists to Premiere New Philip Glass Symphony |url=https://theviolinchannel.com/vc-young-artists-lgt-young-soloists-to-premiere-new-philip-glass-symphony/ |work=The Violin Channel| date=August 17, 2021 |access-date=January 2, 2024}}</ref> [[Symphony No. 13 (Glass)|Glass's Symphony No. 13]] was premiered by the [[National Arts Centre Orchestra]] under [[Alexander Shelley]] at the [[Roy Thomson Hall]] in Toronto on March 30, 2022. Commissioned by the orchestra, the work was written as a tribute to Canadian journalist [[Peter Jennings]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Truth in our Time - Toronto |url=https://nac-cna.ca/en/event/29945 |work=National Arts Centre|access-date=January 2, 2024}}</ref>

On November 7, 2023, Glass and [[Artisan Books]] released ''Philip Glass Piano Etudes: The Complete Folios 1–20 & Essays from Fellow Artists'' a nine-pound deluxe boxed set of Glass' piano etudes and ''Studies in Time: Essays on the Music of Philip Glass.'' <ref>{{Cite web |last=Ruel |first=Chris |date=July 11, 2023 |title=Artisan Books to Release 'Philip Glass Piano Etudes: The Complete Folios 1–20 & Essays from Fellow Artists' in Fall 2023 |url=https://operawire.com/arphilip-glass-piano-etudes/ |access-date=July 12, 2023 |website=OperaWire |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Influences and collaborations==
Glass describes himself as a "classicist", pointing out he is trained in [[harmony]] and [[counterpoint]] and studied such composers as [[Franz Schubert]], [[Johann Sebastian Bach]], and [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]] with [[Nadia Boulanger]].<ref>{{citation|title=The Sound of Glass|first=Belinda|last=McKoen|newspaper=[[The Irish Times]]|date=June 28, 2008|access-date=November 10, 2008|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2008/0628/1214567621837.html}} {{Subscription required}}</ref> [[Jean Sibelius]]'s influence can be heard in the lyrical, sweeping, and stark qualities of his music.{{sfn|Schwarz|1996|p=}}{{pn|date=June 2025}} Aside from composing in the Western classical tradition, his music has ties to rock, [[ambient music]], [[electronic music]], and [[world music]]. Early admirers of his minimalism include musicians [[Brian Eno]] and [[David Bowie]].<ref>Tim Page, Liner Notes to the album "Music with Changing Parts, Nonesuch Music, 1994</ref> In the 1990s, Glass composed the aforementioned symphonies ''[[Symphony No. 1 (Glass)|Low]]'' (1992) and ''[[Symphony No. 4 (Glass)|Heroes]]'' (1996), thematically derived from the Bowie-Eno collaboration albums ''[[Low (David Bowie album)|Low]]'' and ''[["Heroes" (David Bowie album)|"Heroes"]]''<!--quotation marks as in title--> composed in late 1970s Berlin.

Glass has collaborated with recording artists such as [[Paul Simon]],<ref>{{cite news| last=Simon| first=Paul| author-link=Paul Simon| url=https://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2017/01/26/511659534/-swimming-in-a-trance-like-state-paul-simon-on-philip-glass |title='Swimming In A Trance-Like State': Paul Simon On Philip Glass |work=[[National Public Radio]] |date=January 26, 2017 |access-date=December 28, 2020}}</ref> [[Suzanne Vega]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.philipglass.com/music/compositions/ignorant_sky.php |title=Music: Ignorant Sky |publisher=Philip Glass |access-date=September 20, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110926110605/http://www.philipglass.com/music/compositions/ignorant_sky.php |archive-date=September 26, 2011 }}</ref> [[Mick Jagger]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.philipglass.com/music/films/bent.php |title=Music: Film: Bent |publisher=Philip Glass |access-date=September 20, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110919060416/http://www.philipglass.com/music/films/bent.php |archive-date=September 19, 2011 }}</ref> [[Leonard Cohen]], [[David Byrne]], [[Uakti (band)|Uakti]], [[Natalie Merchant]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.philipglass.com/music/compositions/planctus.php |title=Music: Planctus |publisher=Philip Glass |date=February 17, 1997 |access-date=September 20, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110926111442/http://www.philipglass.com/music/compositions/planctus.php |archive-date=September 26, 2011 }}</ref> [[S'Express]] (Glass remixed their track ''Hey Music Lover'' in 1989)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/may/19/s-express-ecstasy-acid-house-why-drag-new-punk|title=S'Express on ecstasy, acid house and why drag is the new punk|work=The Guardian|date=May 19, 2016|access-date=August 22, 2017}}</ref> and [[Aphex Twin]] (yielding an orchestration of "Icct Hedral" in 1995 on the ''[[Donkey Rhubarb (EP)|Donkey Rhubarb]]'' EP). Glass's compositional influence extends to musicians such as [[Mike Oldfield]] (who included parts from Glass's ''North Star'' in ''[[Platinum (Mike Oldfield album)|Platinum]]''), and bands such as [[Tangerine Dream]] and [[Talking Heads]]. Glass and his sound designer Kurt Munkacsi produced the American [[post-punk]]/[[New wave music|new wave]] band [[Polyrock]] (1978 to the mid-1980s), as well as the recording of [[John Moran (composer)|John Moran's]] ''The Manson Family (An Opera)'' in 1991, which featured punk legend [[Iggy Pop]], and a second (unreleased) recording of Moran's work featuring poet [[Allen Ginsberg]].

Glass counts many artists among his friends and collaborators, including visual artists ([[Richard Serra]], [[Chuck Close]], [[Fredericka Foster]]),<ref>{{cite web |last1=Glass |first1=Phillip |last2=Foster |first2=Fredericka |last3=Jacobs |first3=Beth |date=June 4, 2018 |title=The Smaller the Theater, the Faster the Music Composer, Philip Glass talks time with painter Fredericka Foster. |url=http://nautil.us/issue/61/coordinates/the-larger-the-theater-the-faster-the-music |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815063937/https://nautil.us/issue/61/coordinates/the-larger-the-theater-the-faster-the-music |archive-date=August 15, 2021 |access-date=August 19, 2021 |website=nautil.us |publisher=Nautilus: Science Connected}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Glass |first1=Philip |last2=Foster |first2=Fredericka |date=Fall 2021 |title=Music, Meditation, Painting—and Dreaming, A conversation with Philip Glass and Fredericka Foster |publisher=Tricycle |url=https://tricycle.org/magazine/glass-foster-meditation/ |access-date=August 19, 2021}}</ref> writers ([[Doris Lessing]], [[David Henry Hwang]], [[Allen Ginsberg]]), film and theatre directors (including [[Errol Morris]], [[Robert Wilson (director)|Robert Wilson]], [[JoAnne Akalaitis]], [[Godfrey Reggio]], [[Paul Schrader]], [[Martin Scorsese]], [[Christopher Hampton]], [[Bernard Rose (director)|Bernard Rose]], and many others), choreographers ([[Lucinda Childs]], [[Jerome Robbins]], [[Twyla Tharp]]), and musicians and composers ([[Ravi Shankar]], [[David Byrne]], the conductor [[Dennis Russell Davies]], [[Foday Musa Suso]], [[Laurie Anderson]], [[Linda Ronstadt]], [[Paul Simon]], [[Pierce Turner]], [[Joan La Barbara]], [[Arthur Russell (musician)|Arthur Russell]], [[David Bowie]], [[Brian Eno]], [[Roberto Carnevale]], [[Patti Smith]], [[Aphex Twin]], [[Lisa Bielawa]], [[Andrew Shapiro]], [[John Moran (composer)|John Moran]], [[Bryce Dessner]] and [[Nico Muhly]]). Among recent collaborators are Glass's fellow New Yorker [[Woody Allen]] and [[Stephen Colbert]].<ref>{{citation |title=Episode 6006 (1/12/2010) |date=January 13, 2010 |url=http://www.nofactzone.net/2010/01/13/episode-6006-1122010/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110705162724/http://www.nofactzone.net/2010/01/13/episode-6006-1122010/ |publisher=NoFactZone.net |access-date=May 24, 2010 |archive-date=July 5, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Glass had begun{{Clarify|reason=Starting when?|date=October 2022}} using the [[Farfisa]] portable organ out of convenience,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/10/arts/music/new-music-works-with-surprising-problem-dated-instruments.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0|title=Electronic Woe: The Short Lives of Instruments|author=Allan Kozinn|author-link=Allan Kozinn|date=June 8, 2012|access-date=March 29, 2013|work=The New York Times}}</ref> and he has used it in concert.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/masterglass.html|archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20090927023850/http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/masterglass.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 27, 2009|title=Meet Phillip Glass|publisher=Smithsonianmag.com|access-date=March 29, 2013}}</ref> It is featured on several recordings including ''North Star''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.philipglass.com/music/recordings/north_star.php |title=Music: North Star |publisher=Dunvagen Music Publishers |access-date=March 29, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130310033542/http://www.philipglass.com/music/recordings/north_star.php |archive-date=March 10, 2013 }}</ref> and ''Dance Nos. 1–5''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.philipglass.com/music/recordings/dance_nos1-5.php |title=Philip Glass: Music: Dance Nos. 1–5 |publisher=Dunvagen Music Publishers |date=October 19, 1979 |access-date=March 29, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130719053017/http://www.philipglass.com/music/recordings/dance_nos1-5.php |archive-date=July 19, 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Philip Glass |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/philip-glass-mn0000849672/credits |title=Philip Glass – Credits |website=AllMusic |date=January 31, 1937 |access-date=March 29, 2013}}</ref>

==Music for film==
Glass has composed many film scores, starting with the orchestral score for ''[[Koyaanisqatsi]]'' (1982), and continuing with two biopics, ''[[Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters]]'' (1985, resulting in the String Quartet No. 3) and ''[[Kundun]]'' (1997) about the [[Dalai Lama]], for which he received his first [[Academy Award]] nomination. In 1968, he composed and conducted the score for director Harrison Engle's minimalist comedy short, ''Railroaded,'' played by the Philip Glass Ensemble. This was one of his earliest film efforts.

The year after scoring ''[[Hamburger Hill]]'' (1987), Glass began a long collaboration with the filmmaker [[Errol Morris]] with his music for Morris's celebrated documentaries, including ''[[The Thin Blue Line (1988 film)|The Thin Blue Line]]'' (1988) and ''[[A Brief History of Time (film)|A Brief History of Time]]'' (1991).<ref>Butler, Isaac (March 16, 2018).[https://slate.com/culture/2018/03/errol-morris-on-stephen-hawking-and-his-movie-a-brief-history-of-time.html "Errol Morris on His Movie—and Long Friendship—With Stephen Hawking,"] ''[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]'', retrieved July 30, 2018.</ref>  He continued composing for the [[Qatsi trilogy]] with the scores for ''[[Powaqqatsi]]'' (1988) and ''[[Naqoyqatsi]]'' (2002). In 1995, he composed the theme for [[Godfrey Reggio|Reggio]]'s short independent film ''Evidence''. He made a cameo appearance—briefly visible performing at the piano—in [[Peter Weir]]'s ''[[The Truman Show]]'' (1998), which uses music from ''Powaqqatsi'', ''Anima Mundi'' and ''Mishima'', as well as three original tracks by Glass. In the 1990s, he also composed scores for ''[[Bent (1997 film)|Bent]]'' (1997) and the supernatural horror film ''[[Candyman (1992 film)|Candyman]]'' (1992) and its sequel, ''[[Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh]]'' (1995), plus a film adaptation of [[Joseph Conrad]]'s ''[[The Secret Agent (1996 film)|The Secret Agent]]'' (1996).

In 1999, he finished a new soundtrack for the 1931 film ''[[Dracula (1931 English-language film)|Dracula]]''. ''[[The Hours (film)|The Hours]]'' (2002) earned him a second Academy Award nomination. The circular, recurring nature of Glass's music has been praised for providing stability and contrast to frequent jumps across time and geography in the film's narrative. In this way, the soundtrack has a distinctive personality, so much so that director Stephen Daldry believes Glass's music serves as "another stream of consciousness, another character"<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Deborah Crisp|last2=Roger Hillman|date=2010|title=Chiming the Hours: A Philip Glass Soundtrack|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5406/musimoviimag.3.2.0030|journal=Music and the Moving Image|volume=3|issue=2|pages=30|doi=10.5406/musimoviimag.3.2.0030|hdl=1885/56832 |issn=2167-8464|hdl-access=free|url-access=subscription}}</ref> in the film. ''The Hours'' was followed by another Morris documentary, ''[[The Fog of War]]'' (2003). In the mid-2000s, Glass provided the scores to films such as ''[[Secret Window]]'' (2004), ''[[Neverwas]]'' (2005), ''[[The Illusionist (2006 film)|The Illusionist]]'' and ''[[Notes on a Scandal (film)|Notes on a Scandal]]'', garnering his third Academy Award nomination for the latter. Glass's most recent film scores include ''[[No Reservations (film)|No Reservations]]'' (Glass makes a brief cameo in the film sitting at an outdoor café), ''[[Cassandra's Dream]]'' (2007), ''Les Regrets'' (2009), ''Mr Nice'' (2010), the Brazilian film ''Nosso Lar'' (2010) and ''[[Fantastic Four (2015 film)|Fantastic Four]]'' (2015, in collaboration with [[Marco Beltrami]]). In 2009, Glass composed original theme music for ''[[Transcendent Man]]'', about the life and ideas of [[Ray Kurzweil]] by filmmaker [[Barry Ptolemy]].

In the 2000s, Glass's work from the 1980s again became known to wider public through various media. In 2005, his Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (1987) was featured in the French film ''[[The Moustache (film)|The Moustache]]'', providing a tone intentionally incongruous to the banality of the movie's plot.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-133015548.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105171221/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-133015548.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 5, 2012 |title=The Moustache: Movie Review |access-date=September 20, 2011 }}</ref> ''Metamorphosis: Metamorphosis One'' from ''[[Solo Piano (Philip Glass album)|Solo Piano]]'' (1989) was featured in the [[Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|reimagined ''Battlestar Galactica'']] in the episode "[[Valley of Darkness]]"<ref name=FrakYou>{{cite book|last1=Storm|first1=Jo|title=Frak you! : the ultimate unauthorized guide to Battlestar Galactica|date=2007|publisher=ECW Press|location=Toronto|isbn=978-1-55022-789-5|page=109|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SKNWjww7V88C&pg=PA109|access-date=January 2, 2016}}</ref> and also in the final episode ("return 0") of ''[[Person of Interest (TV series)|Person of Interest]]''. In 2008, [[Rockstar Games]] released ''[[Grand Theft Auto IV]]'' featuring Glass's "Pruit Igoe" (from ''Koyaanisqatsi''). "Pruit Igoe" and "Prophecies" (also from ''Koyaanisqatsi'') were used both in a trailer for ''[[Watchmen (2009 film)|Watchmen]]'' and in the film itself. ''Watchmen'' also included two other Glass pieces in the score: "Something She Has To Do" from ''The Hours'' and "Protest" from ''Satyagraha'', act 2, scene 3. In 2013, Glass contributed a piano piece "Duet" to the [[Park Chan-wook]] film ''[[Stoker (film)|Stoker]]'' which is performed diegetically in the film.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://mubi.com/notebook/posts/scores-on-screen-piano-lessons-death-and-desire-in-park-chan-wook-s-stoker|title=Scores on Screen. Piano Lessons: Death and Desire in Park Chan-wook's "Stoker" on Notebook|website=MUBI|date=September 4, 2018 |language=en|access-date=May 21, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.spin.com/2013/02/philip-glass-duet-stoker-soundtrack-park-chan-wook |title=Hear Philip Glass' 'Duet' From Park Chan-wook's Psycho-Sexual Thriller 'Stoker' |date=February 12, 2013 |publisher=spinmedia.com |access-date=August 17, 2015}}</ref> Glass contributed compositions to the feature documentary "The General & Me" by filmmaker [[Tiana Alexandra]]-Silliphant, which was showcased at Glass's "Days and Nights Festival" in 2017.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.philipglasscenterpresents.org/history | title=History }}</ref> In 2017, Glass scored the [[National Geographic Films]] documentary ''Jane'' (a documentary on the life of renowned British [[primatologist]] [[Jane Goodall]]).

Glass's music was featured in two award-winning films by Russian director [[Andrey Zvyagintsev]], ''[[Elena (2011 film)|Elena]]'' (2011) and ''[[Leviathan (2014 film)|Leviathan]]'' (2014).

For television, Glass composed the theme for ''[[Night Stalker (TV series)|Night Stalker]]'' (2005) and the soundtrack for ''[[Tales from the Loop]]'' (2020). Glass's "Confrontation and Rescue" (from ''Satyagraha'') was used in the ending of [[Stranger Things season 3|Season 3]] Chapter 6 of ''[[Stranger Things]]'' (2019), whilst "Window of Appearances", "Akhnaten and Nefertiti" (from ''Akhnaten'') and "Prophecies" (from ''Koyaanisqatsi'') were used in the finale of [[Stranger Things season 4|Season 4]] Volume 1 (2022).

==Other business ventures==
===Dunvagen Music Publishers===
In 1977, Glass formed a music publisher and management company named ''Dunvagen Music Publishers''. <ref> {{cite web
 | title = Dunvagen Music
 | url = https://www.linkedin.com/company/dunvagen-music-publishers/about
 | website = LinkedIn
 | access-date = 16 October 2025
}} </ref> The company still represents his publishing and management interests today. <ref> {{cite web
 | title = Contact
 | url = https://philipglass.com/contact
 | website = Philip Glass
 | access-date = 16 October 2025 
}} </ref>

===Record labels===
[[File:Orange Mountain Music logo.svg|thumb|The Orange Mountain Music logo]]

In 1970, Glass and [[Klaus Kertess]] (owner of the [[Bykert Gallery]]) formed a record label named ''Chatham Square Productions'' after [[Chatham Square, Manhattan|the location]] of the studio of a Philip Glass Ensemble member Dick Landry.<ref name=musicby /> In 1993, Glass formed another record label, Point Music; in 1997, Point Music released ''[[Music for Airports]]'', a live, instrumental version of Eno's composition of the same name, by [[Bang on a Can]] All-Stars. In 2002, Glass and his producer Kurt Munkacsi and artist Don Christensen founded the Orange Mountain Music company, dedicated to "establishing the recording legacy of Philip Glass" and, to date, have released sixty albums of Glass's music.

===Looking Glass Studios===
In 1992, Glass built his own recording studio in New York City and named it Looking Glass Studios. In addition to Glass' own recording projects, the studio hosted recording projects of notable artists including Beck, Bjork, Sheryl Crow, The Cure, Grace Jones, Lou Reed, and Roger Waters before its closure in February 2009.<ref>{{cite web|last=Weiss|first=David|title=Looking Glass Studios Closes|url=https://www.mixonline.com/news/looking-glass-studios-closes-420798|website=MIX|date=March 2, 2009|access-date=April 9, 2024}}</ref>

==Personal life==
[[File:Philip Glass wordmark.svg|thumb|Wordmark of Philip Glass]]

Glass lives in [[New York City]] and in [[Cape Breton Island|Cape Breton]] in [[Nova Scotia]]. He has described himself as "a Jewish-[[Taoist]]-[[Hindu]]-[[Toltec]]-[[Buddhist]]"<ref name=wiseguy>{{citation |title=Wiseguy: Philip Glass Uncut |first=Jeff |last=Gordinier |date=March 2008 |url=http://www.details.com/celebrities-entertainment/men-of-the-moment/200802/wiseguy-legendary-composer-philip-glass?currentPage=2 |periodical=[[Details (magazine)|Details]] |access-date=November 10, 2008 |archive-date=August 9, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140809140004/http://www.details.com/celebrities-entertainment/men-of-the-moment/200802/wiseguy-legendary-composer-philip-glass?currentPage=2 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and is a supporter of the [[Tibetan independence movement]]. In 1987, he co-founded the [[Tibet House US]] with [[Columbia University]] professor [[Robert Thurman]] and the actor [[Richard Gere]] at the request of the [[14th Dalai Lama]].<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Walters |first1=John |title=Philip Glass Menagerie: The Composer on 26 Years of the Tibet House Benefit Concert |url=https://www.newsweek.com/annual-tibet-house-concert-features-eclectic-lineup-428239 |access-date=October 2, 2018 |magazine=Newsweek |date=February 18, 2016}}</ref> He is also chair of the magazine ''[[Tricycle: The Buddhist Review]]''.<ref name="tricycle.org">{{Cite web|title = About The Tricycle Foundation {{!}} Tricycle|url = http://tricycle.org/about|website = tricycle.org| date=December 16, 2015 |access-date = August 30, 2024}}</ref> Glass is a vegetarian.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Glass |first1=Philip |title=Meat: To Eat It or Not |url=https://tricycle.org/magazine/meat-eat-it-or-not-philip-glass/ |website=tricycle.org/ |date=December 1994 |publisher=Tricycle Foundation |access-date=October 2, 2018}}</ref>

Glass has been married four times; he has four children and one granddaughter.

* His first marriage was to theater director [[JoAnne Akalaitis]] (m. 1965, div. 1980), with whom he has two children: Juliet (b. 1968) and Zachary (b. 1971).
* His second marriage was to Luba Burtyk (m. 1980), a physician.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4XNtwLEbl7wC&q=Luba+Burtyk+Glass+divorced|title=The International Who's Who, 1997–98|edition=61st|publisher=Europa Publications|date=1997|access-date=March 29, 2013|isbn=978-1-85743-022-6}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Coe |first=Robert |date=October 25, 1981 |title=Philip Glass Breaks Through |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/10/25/magazine/philip-glass-breaks-through.html |access-date=October 27, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
* His third wife, the artist [[Candy Jernigan]], died of liver cancer in 1991, aged 39. 
* Glass's fourth marriage was to restaurant manager, [[Holly Critchlow]] (m. in 2001). They later divorced.<ref name="Mahoney" /> They had two sons, Cameron (b. 2002) and Marlowe (b. 2003).

He was romantically involved with cellist Wendy Sutter for approximately five years.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Star |first1=Cathalena E. Burch Arizona Daily |title=The musical romance of Wendy Sutter and Philip Glass |url=https://tucson.com/entertainment/blogs/caliente-tuned-in/the-musical-romance-of-wendy-sutter-and-philip-glass/article_b84ae868-4842-11e3-84ab-001a4bcf887a.html |website=Arizona Daily Star |date=November 14, 2013 |access-date=March 13, 2020 |language=en}}</ref><ref>[http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/43913/ "Q&A With Composer Philip Glass and His Girlfriend, Wendy Sutter – Heart of Glass"] by Rebecca Milzoff, ''[[New York (magazine)|New York]]'', January 31, 2008. Retrieved December 18, 2019.</ref>  {{As of|December 2018}}, his partner was Japanese-born dancer [[Saori Tsukada]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Sheridan |first=Wade |title=Reba McEntire, Cher lauded at Kennedy Center Honors |url=https://upi.com/6860166 |access-date=April 3, 2020 |work=UPI |date=December 3, 2018 |at=See caption for photo 8/57}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Photo: Composer Philip Glass arrives for Kennedy Center Honors Gala in Washington DC – WAP20181202508 |url=https://www.upi.com/News_Photos/view/upi/32fb5457ab90db56d5fd59932cc7fe61/Composer-Philip-Glass-arrives-for-Kennedy-Center-Honors-Gala-in-Washington-DC/ |access-date=October 27, 2022 |website=UPI |language=en}}</ref>

Glass is the [[first cousin once removed]] of [[Ira Glass]], host of the radio show ''[[This American Life]]''.<ref>{{cite news|title=This American TV Show|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/04/magazine/04WWLNQ4.t.html|first=Deborah|last=Solomon|author-link=Deborah Solomon|date=March 4, 2007|access-date=November 10, 2008|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> Ira interviewed Glass onstage at Chicago's [[Field Museum of Natural History|Field Museum]]; this interview was broadcast on [[NPR]]'s ''[[Fresh Air]]''. Ira interviewed Glass a second time at a fundraiser for [[St. Ann's Warehouse]]; this interview was given away to public-radio listeners as a pledge-drive thank-you gift in 2010. Ira and Glass recorded a version of the composition Glass wrote to accompany his friend [[Allen Ginsberg]]'s poem "[[Wichita Vortex Sutra]]".  In 2014, ''This American Life'' broadcast a live performance at the [[Brooklyn Academy of Music]] that included the world premier of the opera ''Help'', a short [[monodrama]] that Philip Glass wrote for the occasion.<ref>{{cite podcast |url=https://www.thisamericanlife.org/528/the-radio-drama-episode |title= The Radio Drama Episode |website=This American Life |publisher= |host= [[Ira Glass]] |date= June 20, 2014|time= |access-date=September 27, 2022}}</ref>

==Critical reception==
[[File:MX PHILIP GLASS BELLAS ARTES (27224066057).jpg|thumb|Glass playing at [[Palacio de Bellas Artes]] in [[Mexico City]] in 2018]]

''[[Musical Opinion]]'' said, "Philip Glass must be one of the most influential living composers."<ref>[https://www.wisemusicclassical.com/composer/540/Philip-Glass/ Wise Music Classical: Philip Glass, Musical Opinion] by Christopher Monk</ref> The [[National Endowment for the Arts]], while noting that many of his operas have been produced by the world's leading opera houses said, "He is the first composer to win a wide, multigenerational audience in the opera house, the concert hall, the dance world, in film, and in popular music."<ref name=NEA>[https://www.arts.gov/honors/philip-glass Philip Glass Composer] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200519141727/https://www.arts.gov/honors/philip-glass |date=May 19, 2020 }} The National Endowment for the Arts: 2010 Opera Honors</ref> ''Classical Music Review'' called his opera [[Akhnaten (opera)|''Akhnaten'']] "a musically sophisticated and imposing work".<ref>[http://www.classical-music-review.org/reviews/Akhnaten.html Philip Glass: Akhnaten] Classical Music Review: New Releases</ref>  The New York ''[[Metropolitan Opera]]'''s production of ''Akhnaten'' won the ''[[Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording]]'' in 2022.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.grammy.com/news/2022-grammys-complete-winners-nominees-nominations-list | title=2022 GRAMMYs Awards Show: Complete Winners & Nominations List }}</ref>

[[Justin Davidson]] of ''[[New York (magazine)|New York]]'' magazine has criticized Glass, saying, "Glass never had a good idea he didn't flog to death: He repeats the haunting scale 30 mind-numbing times, until it's long past time to go home."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://nymag.com/arts/classicaldance/classical/reviews/philip-glass-2012-2/|title=Had I Never Listened Closely Enough?|website=NYMag.com|date=January 26, 2012 |access-date=February 19, 2018}}</ref> [[Richard Schickel]] of ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' criticized Glass's score for ''[[The Hours (film)|The Hours]]'', saying, "This ultimately proves insufficient to lend meaning to their lives or profundity to a grim and uninvolving film, for which Philip Glass unwittingly provides the perfect score—tuneless, oppressive, droning, painfully self-important."<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1003931,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081123030859/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1003931,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 23, 2008|title=Holiday Movie Preview: The Hours|last=Schickel|first=Richard|date=December 23, 2002|magazine=Time|access-date=February 19, 2018|language=en-US|issn=0040-781X}}</ref>

==Compositions==
{{Main|List of compositions by Philip Glass}}

==Awards and nominations==
{|class= "wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" 
! Organizations
! scope="col"| Year
! scope="col"| Category
! scope="col"| Work
! scope="col"| Result 
! scope="col" class="unsortable"| {{refh}}
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="3"| [[Academy Awards]] 
| style="text-align:center;"| [[70th Academy Awards|1997]] 
| rowspan=3|[[Academy Award for Best Original Score|Best Original Score]]
| ''[[Kundun]]'' 
| {{nom}}
| <ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1998|title= 70th Academy Awards|website= [[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]]|date= October 5, 2014|accessdate= September 1, 2024}}</ref>
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[75th Academy Awards|2002]]
| ''[[The Hours (film)|The Hours]]'' 
| {{nom}}
| <ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2003|title= 75th Academy Awards|website= [[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]]|date= October 5, 2014|accessdate= September 1, 2024}}</ref>
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[79th Academy Awards|2006]] 
| ''[[Notes on a Scandal (film)|Notes on a Scandal]]''
| {{nom}}
| <ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2007|title= 79th Academy Awards|website= [[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]]|date= October 7, 2014|accessdate= September 1, 2024}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="1"| [[BAFTA Awards]] 
| style="text-align:center;"| 2002
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Film Music|Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music]]
| ''[[The Hours (film)|The Hours]]''
| {{won}}
| <ref name=NEA/>
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2"| [[Critics Choice Movie Awards]]
| style="text-align:center;"| [[8th Critics' Choice Awards|2002]]
| rowspan=2|[[Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Score|Best Composer]]
| ''The Hours'' 
| {{nom}}
| 
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[12th Critics' Choice Awards|2006]]
| ''[[The Illusionist (2006 film)|The Illusionist]]'' 
| {{won}}
| <ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://variety.com/2007/film/awards/critics-choose-departed-1117957354/|magazine= Variety|title=Critics choose 'Departed'|first= Laura|last=Repstad|date=January 12, 2007|access-date=August 6, 2018}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2"| [[Drama Desk Awards]]
| style="text-align:center;"| 2010
|rowspan=2|Outstanding Music in a Play
| ''[[The Bacchae]]'' 
| {{nom}}
| rowspan=1|<ref>{{cite web|url= https://playbill.com/person/philip-glass-vault-0000017720|title= Philip Glass|website= Playbill|accessdate= September 1, 2024}}</ref>
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 2016
| ''[[The Crucible]]''
| {{won}}
| <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.broadway.com/buzz/185058/shuffle-along-she-loves-me-win-big-at-2016-drama-desk-awards/|publisher=Broadway|title=Shuffle Along & She Loves Me Win Big at 2016 Drama Desk Awards|date=June 5, 2016|access-date=August 6, 2018}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="3"| [[Golden Globe Awards]] 
| style="text-align:center;"| [[55th Golden Globe Awards|1997]]
| rowspan=3|[[Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score|Best Original Score]]
| ''[[Kundun]]'' 
| {{nom}}
| <ref name="globes">{{cite web |title= Philip Glass - Golden Globes|url= https://goldenglobes.com/person/philip-glass/|access-date= September 1, 2024|publisher= [[Golden Globe Awards]]}}</ref>
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[56th Golden Globe Awards|1998]]
| ''[[The Truman Show]]'' 
| {{won}}
| <ref name="globes" />
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[60th Golden Globe Awards|2002]]
| ''[[The Hours (film)|The Hours]]''
| {{nom}} 
| <ref name="globes" />
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="5"| [[Grammy Awards]] 
| style="text-align:center;"| [[28th Annual Grammy Awards|1987]]
| rowspan=2|[[Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition|Best Contemporary Composition]] 
| ''[[Satyagraha (opera)|Satyagraha]]''
| {{nom}}
| <ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.grammy.com/awards/28th-annual-grammy-awards|title= 28th Annual Grammy Awards|website= [[Grammy Awards|Recording Academy]]|accessdate= September 1, 2024}}</ref>
|- 
| style="text-align:center;"| [[29th Annual Grammy Awards|1988]]
| ''[[String Quartet No. 2 (Glass)|String Quartet No. 2]]''
| {{nom}}
| <ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.grammy.com/awards/29th-annual-grammy-awards|title= 29th Annual Grammy Awards|website= [[Grammy Awards|Recording Academy]]|accessdate= September 1, 2024}}</ref>
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[46th Annual Grammy Awards|2004]]
| [[Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media|Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media]]
| ''[[The Hours (soundtrack)|The Hours]]''
| {{nom}}
| <ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.grammy.com/awards/46th-annual-grammy-awards|title= 46th Annual Grammy Awards|website= [[Grammy Awards|Recording Academy]]|accessdate= September 1, 2024}}</ref>
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[50th Annual Grammy Awards|2008]]
| [[Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition|Best Instrumental Composition]]
| ''[[Notes on a Scandal (film)|Notes on a Sandal]]'' <small> ("I Knew Her") </small>
| {{nom}}
| <ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.grammy.com/awards/50th-annual-grammy-awards|title= 50th Annual Grammy Awards|website= [[Grammy Awards|Recording Academy]]|accessdate= September 1, 2024}}</ref>
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 2020
| colspan=2|[[Grammy Trustees Award|Trustees Award]]
| {{honored}} 
| <ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.grammy.com/awards/trustee-awards|title= Trustees Award|website= [[Grammy Awards|Recording Academy]]|accessdate= September 1, 2024}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="1"|[[Primetime Emmy Awards]]
| style="text-align:center;"| [[56th Primetime Emmy Awards|2004]]
| [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score)|Outstanding Music Composition for a Series]] 
| ''Pandemic: Facing AIDS'' 
| {{nom}}
| <ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.emmys.com/awards/nominees-winners/2004|title= Nominees / Winners 2004 Emmy Awards|website= [[Emmy Awards|Television Academy]]|access-date= September 1, 2024}}</ref>
|-
|}

== Honorary awards ==
{|class= "wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" 
! Organizations
! scope="col"| Year
! scope="col"| Award
! scope="col"| Result 
! scope="col" class="unsortable"| {{refh}}
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="1"| [[Musical America]]
| style="text-align:center;"| 1985
| Musician of the Year
| {{honored}} 
| <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.musicalamerica.com/pages/?pagename=honorees1|publisher=Musical America|title=About us: Musical America Award winners|access-date=August 6, 2018}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="1"| [[Minister of Culture]], France
| style="text-align:center;"| 1995
| [[Ordre des Arts et des Lettres]] (France)
| {{honored}}
| <ref>{{cite web|url=http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/Monsters-of-Grace-4-0-By-Philip-1|publisher=UCLA newsroom|title="Monsters of Grace 4.0" By Philip Glass and Robert Wilson Returns to UCLA March 30 In New, Fully Animated Format|first=Heather|last=Berry|date=December 18, 1998|access-date=August 6, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180806115442/http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/Monsters-of-Grace-4-0-By-Philip-1|archive-date=August 6, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="1"| [[American Academy of Arts and Letters]]
| style="text-align:center;"| 2003
|  Member of the Department of Music
| {{honored}}
| <ref>{{cite web|url=https://artsandletters.org/academy-members/|publisher= Arts And Letters|title=About us: Musical America Award winners|access-date=August 6, 2018}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="1"| [[Palm Springs International Film Festival]] 
| style="text-align:center;"| 2007
| [[Frederick Loewe]] Award
| {{honored}}
| <ref>{{cite web|url=http://entertainmenttoday.net/film/ffestival/11740/2007/01/cinema-blossoms-in-the-desert/|publisher= Entertainment Today|title=Cinema blossoms in the desert|first= Brad|last=Schreiber|date=January 18, 2007|access-date=August 6, 2018}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="1"| [[Fulbright Program]]
| style="text-align:center;"| 2009
| Lifetime Achievement Award Laureate
| {{honored}}
| <ref>{{cite web |title=The Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Award |url=https://fulbright.org/programs/fulbright-lifetime-achievement-award/ |publisher=[[Fulbright Association]] |date=2018 |access-date=December 29, 2018}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="1"| [[American Philosophical Society]]
| style="text-align:center;"| 2009
| Honorary Member
| {{honored}} 
| <ref>{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=philip%20glass;smode=advanced|access-date=April 23, 2021|website=search.amphilsoc.org|archive-date=April 23, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423030443/https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=philip%20glass&smode=advanced|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="1"| [[American Classical Music Hall of Fame]]
| style="text-align:center;"| 2010
| Inductee 
| {{honored}}
| <ref>{{cite web|url=http://classicalwalkoffame.org/browse-inductees/|publisher= American Classical Hall Of Fame|title=Browse Inductees|access-date=August 6, 2018}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="1"| [[National Endowment for the Arts]]
| style="text-align:center;"| 2010
| Opera Honors Award
| {{honored}}
| <ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.arts.gov/honors/opera/media/2010-opera-honorees.html |title=NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman Announces Recipients of the 2010 NEA Opera Honors |date=June 24, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101207034150/http://www.arts.gov/honors/opera/media/2010-opera-honorees.html |archive-date=December 7, 2010 |access-date=July 22, 2010 }}</ref>
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="1"| [[Japan Art Association]] 
| style="text-align:center;"| 2012
| [[Praemium Imperiale]]
| {{honored}} 
| <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ascap.com/playback/2012/10/faces-places/concert/ascap-philip-glass-to-receive-2012-praemium-imperiale-arts-award-for-music/|publisher=Ascap|title=ASCAP's Philip Glass to Receive 2012 Praemium Imperiale Arts Award for Music|date=October 4, 2012|access-date=August 6, 2018}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="1"| ''[[Dance Magazine]]''
| style="text-align:center;"| 2013
| Award
| {{honored}}
| <ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.dancemagazine.com/dance-magazine-award-spotlight-philip-glass-2306919604.html|magazine= Dance Magazine|title=Dance Magazine Award Spotlight: Philip Glass
|first= Jenny|last=Dalzell|date=November 1, 2013|access-date=August 6, 2018}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="1"| [[Juilliard School]]
| style="text-align:center;"| 2014
| Honorary Doctor of Music
| {{honored}}
| <ref>{{cite web|url=http://journal.juilliard.edu/journal/1405/honorary-degrees-conferred|publisher=The Juilliard Journal|title=Honorary Degrees Conferred|date=May 2014|access-date=August 6, 2018|archive-date=August 6, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180806145504/http://journal.juilliard.edu/journal/1405/honorary-degrees-conferred|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="1"| [[Museum of the City of New York]]
| style="text-align:center;"| 2014
| Louis Auchincloss Prize
| {{honored}}
| <ref>{{cite web|url=https://mcny.org/join-and-support/2016-louis-auchincloss-prize|publisher=McNY|title=The 2016 Louis Auchincloss Prize|access-date=August 6, 2018}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="1"| [[Glenn Gould Prize]]
| style="text-align:center;"| 2015
| Laureate Award
| {{honored}}
| <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.glenngould.ca/eleventh-laureate-announced/|publisher=The Glenn Gould Foundation|title=Philip Glass Announced as Eleventh Glenn Gould Prize Laureate|date=April 14, 2015|access-date=August 6, 2018}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="1"| [[President of the United States]]
| style="text-align:center;"| 2015
| [[National Medal of Arts]]
| {{honored}}
| <ref>{{cite web|url=http://philipglass.com/glassnotes/philip-glass-awarded-national-medal-of-arts/|publisher= philipglass|title=Philip Glass Notes|first= Drew|last=Smith|date=September 15, 2015|access-date=August 6, 2018}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="1"| ''[[Chicago Tribune]]''
| style="text-align:center;"| 2016
| Literary Award for memoir ''Words Without Music''
| {{honored}}
| <ref>{{cite web|url=http://philipglass.com/event/chicago-il-2016-chicago-tribune-literary-award-philip-glass-solo-piano-and-discussion-of-words-without-music/|publisher=Philip Glass|title=Chicago, IL (2016 ''Chicago Tribune'' Literary Award / Philip Glass, Solo Piano and Discussion of ''Words Without Music'')|access-date=August 6, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180806180913/http://philipglass.com/event/chicago-il-2016-chicago-tribune-literary-award-philip-glass-solo-piano-and-discussion-of-words-without-music/|archive-date=August 6, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="1"| [[Carnegie Hall]] 
| style="text-align:center;"| 2017 
| Richard and Barbara Debs Composer's Chair 
| {{honored}}
| <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2018/02/16/PHILIP-GLASS-ENSEMBLE--MUSIC-WITH-CHANGING-PARTS-0800PM|publisher=Carnegie Hall|title=Philip Glass The 2017–2018 Richard and Barbara Debs Composer's chair|access-date=August 6, 2018}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="1"| [[Society of Composers & Lyricists]]
| style="text-align:center;"| 2017
| Lifetime Achievement Award 
| {{honored}}
| <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.24-7pressrelease.com/press-release/447757/the-society-of-composers-lyricists-to-present-their-highest-honor-on-prolific-composer-philip-glass|publisher=24–7 press release|title=The Society of Composers & Lyricists to Present Their Highest Honor on Prolific Composer Philip Glass|date=December 10, 2017|access-date=August 6, 2018}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="1"| [[John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts]] 
| style="text-align:center;"| 2018
| [[Kennedy Center Honors]] 
| {{honored}}
| <ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/cher-hamilton-philip-glass-to-receive-kennedy-center-honors-703455/|magazine= Rolling Stone|title=Cher, ''Hamilton'', Philip Glass to Receive Kennedy Center Honors|first= Daniel|last=Kreps|date=July 25, 2018|access-date=August 6, 2018}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="1"| [[Recording Academy]]
| style="text-align:center;"| 2020
| [[Grammy Trustees Award]]
| {{honored}} 
| <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.grammy.com/press-releases/chicago-roberta-flack-isaac-hayes-iggy-pop-john-prine-public-enemy-and-sister-rosetta|title=Chicago, Roberta Flack, Isaac Hayes, Iggy Pop, John Prine, Public Enemy and Sister Rosetta Tharpe to Be Honored with Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award|date=December 18, 2019|website=GRAMMY.com}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="1"| [[American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers]] 
| style="text-align:center;"| 2021
| Television Theme of the Year, ''Tales from the Loop''
| {{honored}}
| <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ascap.com/screenawards21|title=2021 ASCAP Screen Music Awards|date=May 17, 2021|website=ascap.com}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="1"| [[Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria|BBVA Foundation]]
| style="text-align:center;"| 2022
| [[BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award|Frontiers of Knowledge Award]]
| {{honored}}
| <ref>{{cite web |title=The Frontiers of Knowledge Award goes to Philip Glass for forging a unique musical style |url=https://www.bbva.com/en/the-frontiers-of-knowledge-award-goes-to-philip-glass-for-forging-a-unique-musical-style |website=NEWS BBVA |access-date=May 27, 2022 |language=en |date=March 23, 2022}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="1"| [[University of Chicago]]
| style="text-align:center;"| 2023
| Alumni Award
| {{honored}}
| <ref>{{cite web |title=UChicago announces recipients of 2023 Alumni Awards |url=https://news.uchicago.edu/story/uchicago-announces-recipients-2023-alumni-awards |language=en |date=February 1, 2023}}</ref>
|-
|}

==Bibliography==
* {{Cite book|title=Music by Philip Glass|last=Glass|first=Philip|date=1987|publisher=[[Harper (publisher)|Harper & Row]]|others=Edited and with supplementary material by Robert T. Jones|editor1-last= Jones |editor1-first= Robert T.|display-editors=0|isbn=0-06-015823-9|edition=1st|location=New York|oclc=15521553|ref=none}}
** Reprinted in 1995 by [[Da Capo Press]] ({{ISBN|978-0-306-80636-0}}) with the addition of a new foreword by Glass and an updated music catalog and discography with 52 black & white photographs.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://philipglass.com/books/music_by_philip_glass/|title=Music By Philip Glass |author= Philip Glass|website=philipglass.com|language=en-US|access-date=March 6, 2018}}</ref>
* {{Cite book|title=Words without music: a memoir |last=Glass|first=Philip|author-mask=2|isbn=978-0-571-32373-9|publisher=[[Faber and Faber|Faber & Faber]]|location=London|date=2015|oclc=908632624|ref=none
}}
* {{Cite book|title=Philip Glass Piano Etudes: The Complete Folios 1-20 & Essays from 20 Fellow Artists |last1=Glass|first1=Philip|last2=Brumbach|first2=Linda|last3=Regas|first3=Alisa E.|author-mask=With|isbn=978-1648291883|publisher=[[Artisan Books]]|location=New York|date=2023|ref=none
}}

==Works about Glass==
* ''Music with Roots in the Aether: Opera for Television'' (1976). Tape 2: Philip Glass. Produced and directed by [[Robert Ashley]]
* ''Philip Glass'', from ''Four American Composers'' (1983); directed by [[Peter Greenaway]]
* ''A Composer's Notes: Philip Glass and the Making of an Opera'' (1985); directed by Michael Blackwood
* ''Einstein on the Beach: The Changing Image of Opera'' (1986); directed by Mark Obenhaus
* ''[[Philip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread]]'' (1994); written by David Ives
* ''Looking Glass'' (2005); directed by Éric Darmon
* ''[[Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts]]'' (2007); directed by [[Scott Hicks (director)|Scott Hicks]]

==See also==
* [[List of ambient music artists]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Sources===
* {{cite book|editor-last=Kostelanetz|editor-first=Richard|editor-link=Richard Kostelanetz|year=1999|title=Writings on Glass. Essays, Interviews, Criticism|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_D8-I4aZALzMC|location=Berkeley, Los Angeles, London|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=0-02-864657-6}} (hardcover); {{ISBN|0-520-21491-9}} (paperback).
* {{cite book|last=Maycock|first=Robert|year=2002|title=Glass: A Biography of Philip Glass|publisher=Sanctuary Publishing|isbn=978-1-86074-347-4}}
* {{cite book|last=Potter|first=Keith|year=2000|title=Four Musical Minimalists: La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass|series=Music in the Twentieth Century series|location=Cambridge, UK; New York City|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-48250-9}}
* {{cite book|last=Schwarz|first=K. Robert|year=1996|title=Minimalists|series=20th-Century Composers Series|location=London|publisher=Phaidon Press|isbn=978-0-7148-3381-1}}

==Further reading==
* Bartman, William and Kesten, Joanne (eds). ''The Portraits Speak: Chuck Close in Conversation with 27 of his subjects'', New York: A.R.T. Press, 1997. {{ISBN|978-0-923183-18-9}}.
* Duckworth, William (1995, 1999). ''Talking Music: Conversations With John Cage, Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, and Five Generations of American Experimental Composers''. New York City: Da Capo Press. {{ISBN|978-0-306-80893-7}} (1999 edition).
* Gagne, Cole and Caras, Tracy (1982). ''Soundpieces: Interviews with American Composers.'' Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press. {{ISBN| 0-8108-1474-9}}
* Knowlson, James (2004). ''Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett'', New York: Grove Press. {{ISBN|978-0-8021-4125-5}}.<!-- Does this book mention or substantially discuss Glass? Maybe a note about why it's listed here would be useful. -->
*Lucier, Alvin, ed. (2018). ''Eight Lectures on Experimental Music.'' Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press. {{ISBN| 9780819577634}}
* {{Cite book|title=American minimal music : La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass|last=Mertens|first=Wim|author-link=Wim Mertens|date=1988|publisher=Kahn & Averill|isbn=978-0-912483-15-3|edition=1st pbk.|location=London|oclc=18215156|ref=none}}
* Richardson, John (1999). ''Singing Archaeology: Philip Glass's "Akhnaten"''. Wesleyan University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-8195-6317-0}}.
* {{cite magazine|last=Ross|first=Alex|author-link=Alex Ross (music critic)|date=February 13–20, 2012|title=Musical Events: Number Nine|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]|volume=88|issue=1|pages=116–117|url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/02/13/number-nine-2|access-date=November 13, 2014|ref=none}}
* Zimmerman, Walter, ''Desert Plants – Conversations with 23 American Musicians'', Berlin: Beginner Press in cooperation with Mode Records, 2020 (originally published in 1976 by A.R.C., Vancouver). The 2020 edition includes a cd featuring the original interview recordings with [[Larry Austin]], [[Robert Ashley]], Jim Burton, [[John Cage]], [[Philip Corner]], [[Morton Feldman]], Philip Glass, [[Joan La Barbara]], [[Garrett List]], [[Alvin Lucier]], John McGuire, Charles Morrow, J.B. Floyd (on [[Conlon Nancarrow]]), [[Pauline Oliveros]], [[Charlemagne Palestine]], [[Ben Johnston (composer)|Ben Johnston]] (on [[Harry Partch]]), [[Steve Reich]], [[David Rosenboom]], [[Frederic Rzewski]], [[Richard Teitelbaum]], [[James Tenney]], [[Christian Wolff (composer)|Christian Wolff]], and [[La Monte Young]].

==External links==
{{commons category|Philip Glass}}
* {{official website}}
* {{Bandcamp}}
* {{AllMusic|id=q2378}}
* {{Discogs artist|Philip Glass}}
* {{IMDb name|0001275}}
* [http://www.bruceduffie.com/glass.html Two interviews with Glass] by Bruce Duffie, February 19, 1982, and July 29, 1987
* [https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/7/archival_objects/3183703 Interviews (10)] with the [[Oral History of American Music|Oral History of American Music (Yale University)]]

{{Philip Glass}}
{{Navboxes
|title = Awards for Philip Glass
|list =
{{BAFTA Award for Best Film Music 2000–2019}}
{{Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Composer}}
{{DramaDesk MusicPlay}}
{{Glenn Gould Prize laureates}}
{{Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score 1990–2009}}
{{Hollywood Music in Media Award for Best Original Score in a Documentary}}
{{Kennedy Center Honorees 2010s}}
{{Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Music}}
{{National Medal of Arts recipients 2010s}}
{{WSA – Lifetime Achievement}}
}}
{{Minimal music}}
{{Postmodernism topics}}

{{Portal bar|Classical music|Opera|Biography|Music}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Glass, Philip}}
[[Category:Philip Glass| ]]
[[Category:1937 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:20th-century American classical composers]]
[[Category:21st-century American classical composers]]
[[Category:American ambient musicians]]
[[Category:Tibetan Buddhists from the United States]]
[[Category:American contemporary classical composers]]
[[Category:American film score composers]]
[[Category:American male film score composers]]
[[Category:American musical theatre composers]]
[[Category:American opera composers]]
[[Category:American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:Aspen Music Festival and School alumni]]
[[Category:Baltimore City College alumni]]
[[Category:Best Original Music BAFTA Award winners]]
[[Category:Classical musicians from Maryland]]
[[Category:Classical musicians from Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Composers for carillon]]<!-- Spoleto Fanfare (2006); see compositions article for justification -->
[[Category:Composers for piano]]
[[Category:American contemporary classical music performers]]
[[Category:Converts to Buddhism]]
[[Category:EMI Classics and Virgin Classics artists]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
[[Category:Glenn Gould Prize winners]]
[[Category:Golden Globe Award–winning musicians]]
[[Category:Jewish American artists]]
[[Category:Jewish American classical composers]]
[[Category:Jewish American film score composers]]
[[Category:Juilliard School alumni]]
[[Category:Kennedy Center honorees]]
[[Category:American male musical theatre composers]]
[[Category:American male opera composers]]
[[Category:Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters]]
[[Category:Minimalist composers]]
[[Category:Musicians from Baltimore]]
[[Category:Musicians from Pittsburgh]]
[[Category:Nonesuch Records artists]]
[[Category:Peabody Institute alumni]]
[[Category:Postmodern composers]]
[[Category:Pupils of Darius Milhaud]]
[[Category:Pupils of William Bergsma]]
[[Category:Pupils of Vincent Persichetti]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Praemium Imperiale]]
[[Category:Tibet freedom activists]]
[[Category:United States National Medal of Arts recipients]]
[[Category:University of Chicago alumni]]
[[Category:Virgin Records artists]]
[[Category:American choral composers]]
[[Category:American taxi drivers]]