Editing Philip Glass (section)

==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 a [[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=http://music.guardian.co.uk/classical/andrewclements/story/0,,1918357,00.html |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}}</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=http://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 Voic |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>

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> 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>