World-renowned composer Philip Glass was on campus for "A Celebration of Philip Glass" at the Lied Center for Performing Arts on April 17.
On April 16, Glass was in the Glenn Korff School of Music to attend rehearsals for the concert.
The event was the culmination of a 24-year friendship between Barnes and Glass.
The Lied Center partnered with the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts to present the concert, which featured the world premiere of Glass’s new piano quintet “Annunciation.” The quintet, completed by the composer in February, is based on a Greek Orthodox communion hymn for the Feast of Annunciation and was performed by Barnes and the Chiara String Quartet.
“Annunciation” was commissioned by The Pearle Francis Finigan Foundation, Mike and Amber Kutayli, Rhonda Seacrest and the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts.
The concert also featured the vocal ensemble Cappella Romana performing ancient Byzantine chant and a performance of Glass’s Piano Concerto No. 2 (After Lewis and Clark) featuring Native American flute player Ron Warren and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Professor Tyler White. Piano Concerto No. 2 had its premiere at the Lied Center in 2004 as part of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Celebration.
Also on the program was Glass’s unpublished piano and violin work “Pendulum” with Hyeyung Yoon and Paul Barnes as well as Glass’s choral work “Father Death Blues” sung by the University Singers under the direction of Peter Eklund.
“[Glass] has been so generous to me with his time, and the fact that he’s making himself available here in Lincoln—and only in Lincoln—I think that is a wonderful testament to his generosity as a composer and as a musician,” Barnes said.
Glass has composed more than 20 operas, large and small; more than 10 symphonies; two piano concertos and concertos for violin, piano, timpani and saxophone quartet and orchestra; soundtracks to films; string quartets; a growing body of work for solo piano and organ. He presents lectures, workshops, and solo keyboard performances around the world, and continues to appear regularly with the Philip Glass Ensemble. He has been nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Original Score for “Kundun” (1997), “The Hours” (2002) and “Notes on a Scandal” (2006).
Following the premiere in Lincoln, Barnes and the Chiara String Quartet performed the piece in Hartford, Connecticut, on April 22 and then will perform it in New York City on May 12 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.