The Philip Glass Ensemble is an American musical group founded by composer

Philip Glass Philip 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. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...

in 1968 to serve as a performance outlet for his experimental

minimalist music In visual arts, Minimal music, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimal ...

. The ensemble continues to perform and record to this day, under the musical direction of keyboardist

Michael Riesman Michael Riesman is a composer, conductor, keyboardist, and record producer, best known as Music Director of the Philip Glass Ensemble and conductor of nearly all of Glass' film scores. Biography Michael Riesman studied composition with Peter Stea ...

. The Ensemble's instrumentation became a hallmark of Glass's early minimalist style. While the ensemble's instrumentation has varied over the years, it has generally consisted of amplified woodwinds (typically saxophones, flutes, and bass clarinet), keyboard synthesizers, and solo soprano voice (singing '' solfeggio''). After Glass wrote his first opera, ''

Einstein on the Beach ''Einstein on the Beach'' is an opera in four acts composed by Philip Glass and directed by theatrical producer Robert Wilson, who also collaborated with Glass on the work's libretto. The opera eschews traditional narrative in favor of a formali ...

'', for the ensemble in 1976, he began to compose for other instrumentation more frequently, but he still retains the core ensemble instrumentation. In 2011, individuals from the ensemble performed a series of concerts in an installation at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

in the Temple of Dendur exhibit. From 2012 until late 2015 the ensemble has presented, along with many other performers, a revival of ''Einstein on the Beach'' which opened in Montpellier, France in 2012. In 2013 the ensemble began to perform Glass's opera, '' La Belle et la Bête'' again. The opera is set to the visuals of the 1946 Jean Cocteau film, with the help of four vocalists. In early September 2014 the ensemble performed with

Steve Reich Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer known for his contribution to the development of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, a ...

and other musicians at the

Brooklyn Academy of Music The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a performing arts venue in Brooklyn, New York City, known as a center for progressive and avant-garde performance. It presented its first performance in 1861 and began operations in its present location in ...

's "Next Wave Festival." It had been over thirty years since Glass and Reich had shared a stage. In February 2018, the ensemble performed with the

San Francisco Girls Chorus The San Francisco Girls Chorus, established in 1978 by Elizabeth Appling and celebrating its 40th anniversary during the 2018-2019 Season, is a leading regional center for music education and performance for young women, ages 4–18, based in San Fr ...

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

. They performed the ninety-minute ''Music With Changing Parts'', the work's debut performance with women's chorus and an extremely important concert as this piece is considered to have changed music in the 1970s. Glass has also collaborated with them on their most recent album, Final Answer, and many of his works are featured in performance by SFGC (artistically directed by Ensemble vocalist and keyboardist

Lisa Bielawa Lisa Carol Bielawa (born September 30, 1968) is a composer and vocalist. She is a 2009 Rome Prize winner in Musical Composition and spent a year composing as a Fellow at the American Academy in Rome. Early life and education Bielawa was born in ...

Members

, keyboards *

, keyboards * Jon Gibson, woodwinds * Dan Dryden, audio engineer * Eleanor Sandresky, keyboards * Nelson Padgett, keyboards * Ted Baker, keyboards *

, voice * Andrew Sterman, woodwinds *

Mick Rossi Mick Rossi, (born December 9, 1956) is a Grammy-nominated American pianist, drummer, percussionist, conductor and composer known for his diverse, progressive work in the New York Downtown scene. A longtime collaborator of Philip Glass and Paul S ...

, percussion, keyboards * Frank Cassara, percussion * Peter Hess, woodwinds * Dan Bora, audio engineer * Ryan Kelly, onstage audio engineer

Featured vocalists in ''La Belle et la Bête''

* Gregory Purnhagen, baritone * Peter Stewart, bass * Marie Mascari, soprano * Hai-Ting Chin, mezzo-soprano * Alexandra Montano, mezzo-soprano (deceased) * Janice Felty, mezzo-soprano (still active in the opera world) * Anna-Maria Martinez, soprano (still active in the opera world)

Former members

* Stephen Erb, audio engineer * Martin Goldray, keyboards * Bob Telson, keyboards *

, keyboards * Art Murphy, keyboards * Steve Chambers, keyboards *

James Tenney James Tenney (August 10, 1934 – August 24, 2006) was an American composer and music theorist. He made significant early musical contributions to plunderphonics, sound synthesis, algorithmic composition, process music, spectral music, microtonal ...

, keyboards * Robert Prado, trumpet, flute, and keyboards * Richard Peck, woodwinds * Jack Kripl, woodwinds * Richard Landry, woodwinds * David Crowell, woodwinds *

Joan La Barbara Joan Linda La Barbara (born June 8, 1947) is an American vocalist and composer known for her explorations of non-conventional or "extended" vocal techniques. Considered to be a vocal virtuoso in the field of contemporary music, she is credited w ...

, voice and keyboards * Iris Hiskey, voice and keyboards * Dora Ohrenstein, voice and keyboards *

Barbara Benary Barbara Benary (April 7, 1946 – March 17, 2019) was an American composer and ethnomusicologist specializing in Indonesian and Indian music.Gann, Kyle"Barbara Benary and the Expanding Braid" New World Records; accessed June 28, 2019. Benary co ...

, violin and voice *

David Behrman David Behrman (born August 16, 1937) is an American composer and a pioneer of computer music. In the early 1960s he was the producer of Columbia Records' ''Music of Our Time'' series, which included the first recording of Terry Riley's ''In C''. ...

, viola * Beverly Lauridsen, cello *

Seymour Barab Seymour Barab (January 9, 1921 – June 28, 2014) was an American composer of opera, songs and instrumental and chamber music, as well as a cellist, organist and pianist. He was best known for his fairy tale operas for young audiences, such as ' ...

, cello * Kurt Munkacsi, audio engineer (now a studio producer)

Films

* 1982 – ''

Koyaanisqatsi ''Koyaanisqatsi'' (), also known as ''Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance'', is a 1982 American experimental film, experimental non-narrative film directed and produced by Godfrey Reggio with music composed by Philip Glass and cinematography by R ...

''. Directed by

Godfrey Reggio Godfrey Reggio (born March 29, 1940) is an American director of experimental documentary films. Life Reggio was born in New Orleans, Louisiana to an old and distinguished Louisiana family descended from Francesco M. de Reggio, an Italian noblem ...

. * 1983 – ''Philip Glass''. From ''Four American Composers''. Directed by

Peter Greenaway Peter Greenaway, (born 5 April 1942) is a Welsh film director, screenwriter and artist. His films are noted for the distinct influence of Renaissance and Baroque painting, and Flemish painting in particular. Common traits in his films are the ...

. * 1988 – ''

Powaqqatsi ''Powaqqatsi'', also known as ''Powaqqatsi: Life in Transformation'', is a 1988 American non-narrative film directed by Godfrey Reggio and the sequel to Reggio's experimental 1982 film, ''Koyaanisqatsi''. It is the second film in the Qatsi trilo ...

''. Directed by Godfrey Reggio. * 2002 – ''

Naqoyqatsi ''Naqoyqatsi'', also known as ''Naqoyqatsi: Life as War'', is a 2002 American non-narrative film directed by Godfrey Reggio and edited by Jon Kane, with music composed by Philip Glass. It is the third and final installment in the Qatsi trilogy. ...

''. Directed by Godfrey Reggio. * 2008 – ''Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts.'' Directed by

Scott Hicks Scott Hicks may refer to: * Scott Hicks (basketball) (born 1966), American former college basketball coach * Scott Hicks (director) Robert Scott Hicks (born 4 March 1953), known as Scott, is an Australian film director, producer and screenwrit ...

References

External links

* * {{Authority control

Ensemble Ensemble may refer to: Art * Architectural ensemble * ''Ensemble'' (album), Kendji Girac 2015 album * Ensemble (band), a project of Olivier Alary * Ensemble cast (drama, comedy) * Ensemble (musical theatre), also known as the chorus * ''En ...

American experimental musical groups American classical music groups Contemporary classical music ensembles Musical groups established in 1968