The Philip Glass Ensemble
The Philip Glass Ensemble has one upcoming show in the Netherlands: on April 4, 2027 at PHIL Haarlem, Haarlem.
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About
Founded by Philip Glass in 1968, the Philip Glass Ensemble was built specifically to bring his minimalist compositions to life in performance. The group's signature sound leans on amplified woodwinds like saxophones, flutes, and bass clarinet, keyboard synthesizers, and a soprano voice singing solfeggio. Glass wrote his landmark opera Einstein on the Beach for the ensemble in 1976, and that piece alone reshaped what contemporary classical music could be. The ensemble has continued performing it in revivals, including one that opened in Montpellier in 2012. They have also staged La Belle et la Bête, setting Glass's score against the visuals of Jean Cocteau's 1946 film. These days the ensemble runs under the musical direction of keyboardist Michael Riesman. Highlights from recent years include a 2018 Carnegie Hall performance of Music With Changing Parts alongside the San Francisco Girls Chorus, its debut with a women's chorus and a significant moment for a piece widely credited with shifting the direction of music in the 1970s.
