One last time

It's almost as if he's stopped counting: On his official website, there hasn't been a news update for exactly a year and things have been rather quiet for Philip Glass the last few months (even though he was involved in some Hollywood movie scores). The secret behind this retreat of sorts is that Glass was working on his final opera, "Waiting for the Barbarians", an adaption of John M. Coetzee's book of the same title. The story revolves around an unimportant clerk, who shows humanity in the face of war and is punished for it. Christopher Hampton, whom most will know by his reworking of "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" has written the libretto and the musical direction has been put into the safe hands of Dennis Russel Davies, who has worked with Glass on previous occasions and has an excellent reputation when it comes to modern music. All of this promises quite a lot and we would like to thank the Theater Leipzig for ordering the composition. Leipzig is steadily building an excellent reputation when it comes to presenting Opera premieres and has been featuring debut performances every concert season since 2002. September 10th, the house will open its doors to Glass-fans for the first time and after that, the piece will also be played at Austin and Cincinatti. Russel Davis has already claimed that the composer has found a great balance between singers and the orchestra and that "minimalism" is not the word to decribe the music. Rather, a subtle and "unhysterical" sound is to be found, as well as oriental influences. This promises quite a lot and only proves one thing: Never count Philip Glass out.

Homepage: Philip Glass
Homepage: Theater Erfurt
Source: Dennis Russel Davies at Leipziger Volkszeitung