Glass is one of the few ‘serious’ composers today who has truly crossed over to attract an entire new audience.

Born in Baltimore, Glass studied at the Juilliard School and with Boulanger in Paris (1964-66), and worked with the Indian musicians Ravi Shankar and Alla Rakha. His music, often described as minimalist, relies on repetition, often slightly out of sync so that wave patterns are formed: Glass prefers to describe it as ‘music with repetitive structures’. Seminal early works include String Out (1967-68) and Music in Twelve Parts (1971-74). His opera Einstein on the Beach was given at the Met in 1976 and secured his reputation. This was followed by further full-scale operas, Satyagraha (1980), Akhnaten (1984), The Making of the Representative for Planet 8 (1988) and The Voyage (1992). He has written a number of highly admired film-scores (Kundun, The Hours and Notes on a Scandal all received Academy Award nominations) as well as symphonies, concertos and string quartets. He is one of the few ‘serious’ composers today who has truly crossed over to attract an entire new audience.