Philip Glass Philip Glass

Born: 31 January 1937, Baltimore, Maryland.

Biography:
Acclaimed American classical composer Philip Glass played the violin from the age of six, and became serious about music when he took up the flute aged eight. Seeking new opportunities, he moved to Chicago to study mathematics and philosophy at the University there, paying for his tuition fees by waiting tables and loading baggage at airports. Returning to the east coast, he enrolled at the famous Juillard School in New York, and studies under Aaron Copland, and went on to further study in Paris with Darius Milhaud and Nadia Boulanger. Exposure to the soundscape of middle Eastern and Indian music took Glass in new musical directions, and fostered the 'minimalist' musical style that would place him in the group of avant-garde 20th century composers that included John Adams, Steve Reich and LaMonte Young. Glass premiered his first musical work, "Music in Twelve Parts" in 1974, and took the classical music world by storm. His most famous works since then have included the operas "Einstein on the Beach" (1976), "Akhnaten" (1983), "Orphée" (1993)and "La Belle Et La Bête" (1994), the "Heroes Symphony" (1997, with David Bowie and Brian Eno) as well as numerous other original concert pieces, dances and songs, including one commissioned for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Glass's film career began in 1977, when he wrote music for a documentary about the life of American sculptor Mark Di Suvero, and attained a new level of public recognition in 1983, when he was hired to score "Koyaanisqatsi", the first groundbreaking documentary by director Godfrey Reggio. Glass has written music for Reggio's three other features - "Powaqqatsi" in 1988, "Anima Mundi" in 1991, and "Naqoyqatsi" in 2002, as well as acclaimed scores for films such as "Mishima" (1985), "Hamburger Hill" (1987), "Candyman" (1992), "Candyman II: Farewell to the Flesh" (1995), "The Truman Show" (1998), "Kundun" (1997), "The Hours" (2002) and “Notes on a Scandal” (2006). Interestingly, in recent years, Glass has been conducting a fascinating ‘experiment’ on himself by agreeing to score mainstream Hollywood studio movies - the serial killer thriller “Taking Lives”, the Deep South drama “Undertow” and the Stephen King adaptation “Secret Window” – simply to see whether he could do it or not. The musical results of the experiment are up for debate, but many in the film music world praised Glass for taking the trouble to discover for himself how difficult a job being a mainstream film composer can be. He is a two-time Oscar nominee, and recently, has followed composers such as Carl Davis and by writing a new score for an old movie for public performance: in this case, James Whale's 1931 horror classic “Dracula”, starring Bela Lugosi.

Reviews:
The Hours, The Illusionist, No Reservations, Notes on a Scandal and The Truman Show

Filmography:
Les Animaux Amoureux (2007), Cassandra’s Dream (2007), Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts (2007), No Reservations (2007), A Broken Sole (2006), The Illusionist (2006), Nasiona (2006), Notes on a Scandal (2006), Roving Mars (2006), The Giant Buddhas (2005), Neverwas (2005), Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry (2004), Secret Window (2004), Taking Lives (2004), Undertow (2004), À Hauteur d'Homme (2003), The Fog of War (2003), The Origins of AIDS (2003), Pandemic: Facing AIDS (2003), The Baroness and the Pig (2002), The Hours (2002), Naqoyqatsi (2002), The Eden Myth (1999), The Truman Show (1998), Bent (1997), Kundun (1997), Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent (1996), Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh (1995), Jenipapo (1995), A Brief History of Time (1992), Candyman (1992), Compassion in Exile (1992), Anima Mundi (1991), Mindwalk (1990), Powaqqatsi (1988), The Thin Blue Line (1988), Hamburger Hill (1987), Mishima (1985), Koyaanisqatsi (1983), North Star (1977), Dracula (1931)

Highest Grossing Films as at end of 2007 (adjusted for inflation):
Secret Window ($54.8m), The Hours ($50.8m), No Reservations ($44.3m), Candyman ($44.0m), The Illusionist ($42.7m), Taking Lives ($37.3m), Hamburger Hill ($25.1m), Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh ($22.7m), Notes on a Scandal ($18.7m), Kundun ($8.8m)

Awards:
2006 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Score – Notes on a Scandal
2002 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Score - The Hours
1997 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Dramatic Score - Kundun
1998 Golden Globes - Winner, Best Original Score - The Truman Show
2002 Golden Globes - Nominee, Best Original Score - The Hours
1997 Golden Globes - Nominee, Best Original Score - Kundun
2002 BAFTA Awards - Winner, Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music - The Hours
2003 Grammy Awards – Nominee, Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or Television – The Hours
2004 Emmy Awards – Nominee, Outstanding Music Composition for a Series – Pandemic: Facing AIDS

Links:
Official Site maintained by by José Jiménez Mesa and Jordi Silvestre

Anima Mundi Les Animaux Amoureux Candyman/Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh Cassandra’s Dream Dracula (Silent Film) The Fog of War The Hours The Illusionist Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent Koyaanisqatsi Kundun Mishima Naqoyqatsi No Reservations North Star Notes on a Scandal Powaqqatsi Roving Mars The Thin Blue Line The Truman Show Undertow


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