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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2009 > February > 11
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Philip Glass (hearts) Austin
Philip Glass sent something of an early valentine to Austin today in a phone interview I had with the venerable composer.
For more than two decades Glass has been making almost yearly visits to Austin, garnering a large and loyal audience. Likewise the composer has grown to appreciate Austin.
“There are certain cities in the country that have always been beacons of culture in unexpected places,” said Glass by a phone from his home in New York. “My performing career really began in places like that — places that are not on the main road to speak but were still important places. There seemed to be a connection between my artistic interests and what was going on [in Austin].”
Beginning in the early 1990s, former UT Performing Arts Center director Pebbles Wadsworth was instrumental in getting Glass to Austin on an almost annual basis and she instigated UT’s commission for “Book of Longing,” which the composer brings to the Bass Concert Hall on Saturday.
Based on a book of poetry by legendary wordsmith Leonard Cohen, Glass’s musical version crafts Cohen’s poems — a personal, confessional rumination on the loves and losses of bygone days — into a 100-minute, 22-song cycle. Cohen’s recorded voice, along with projections of his paintings and drawings, add a multi-media touch.
The last time Austinites got a glimpse of Glass was in 2007 in a non-UT gig: Austin Lyric Opera presented the United States premiere of “Waiting for the Barbarians,” the composer’s politically forthright opera that other U.S. opera companies were reluctant to premiere.
“I’ve been able to do things (in Austin) I haven’t been able to do elsewhere,” said Glass. “And I’m grateful for that.”
Philip Glass’ ‘Book of Longing.’
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Austin Wind Symphony joins ‘Orchestras Feeding America’
A little orchestra does good. One of Austin’s smaller and newer orchestras is the first in the area to join an important national hunger relief campaign.
Austin Wind Symphony will participate in Orchestras Feeding America, the first national food drive sponsored by America’s symphony orchestras.
The food drive — to take place in March and April — is organized by the League of American Orchestras, which represents the nation’s professional, volunteer and youth orchestras.
To date, over 160 orchestras have come together to combat hunger in their communities through Orchestras Feeding America. Austin Wind Symphony is the only Austin orchestra so far to participate in the program.
Volunteers will collect non-perishable food donations at the Austin Wind Symphony’s performance on March 26 at the Monarch Event Center.
The national food drive is inspired by the true story depicted in the upcoming film “The Soloist.” The movie is based on the story of the friendship between Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez and Nathaniel Ayers, a gifted Juilliard-trained string player whose mental illness landed him homeless on the streets. Starring Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr., the film is due for release April 24.
“I am very inspired by the number of people coming together during this time of need for so many people,” said Austin Wind Symphony Vice President Shelly Eager in a released statemen. “So often as musicians we are speaking through the music, telling stories, and teaching valuable lessons. This was our opportunity to step outside of the music, and truly make a difference.”
