Philip Gorsk

Philip Glass' opera from 2009 explores the life of scientist Johannes Kepler though a series of dramatic scenes with two hours of Glass' music. Kepler in many ways hearkens back to Glass' portrait operas of the early 1980s and continues the composers interest in scientists after having also written operas on Einstein and Galileo. The opera premiered at the Landestheater Linz in 2009 as part of Linz 09, the European Cultural Capital, and continues the amazing 30 year collaboration between Glass and the conductor Dennis Russell Davies, the music director of both the Landestheater Linz and its orchestra, the Bruckner Orchester Linz who has also recorded Glass' music extensively for the Orange Mountain Music label including Glass Symphonies 6, 7, and 8, and Glass' large scale opera The Voyage which was originally written for the Metropolitan Opera. Kepler is a refreshing return to large scale symphonic writing for the opera house. Recent Glass operas including Waiting for the Barbarians and Appomattox carry more dialogue and intimate narrative scenes whereas Kepler is a musical dedication to the life of this great scientists - triumphs and human flaws.

30 years after Philip Glass’ debut record the new music ensemble Signal asked Philip Glass Ensemble music director Michael Riesman to arrange the classic album “Glassworks” for live performance. The concert took place at the New York venue, Poisson Lubman in April 2010. This CD features a new recording of the entire score, paired with a riveting performance of “Music in Similar Motion”.

Orange Mountain Music is proud to release the new album Aguas da Amazonia in a new orchestral version. In the 1990s Philip Glass composed a ballet for the Brazilian Grupo Corpo titled “Seven or Eight Pieces for a Ballet.” That music was picked up by the famous percussion group UAKTI and later recorded for the album Aguas da Amazonia. Aguas da Amazonia became the launching point and inspiration for arranger Charles Coleman who worked with conductor Kristjan Jarvi on adapting Glass’ music for large symphony orchestra. This new recording captures Coleman's orchestration in all its majesty showcasing the inherent symphonic possibilities.The performance showcases the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra under Kristjan Jarvi as well as the dynamic Absolute Ensemble.

Piano is Philip Glass’ primary instrument (he also studied violin and flute); he composes at the keyboard. With its seemingly contradictory elements of lyricism and percussiveness, it is in some ways the ideal medium for Glass’ musical language. With its deep roots in tradition (spanning the Classical, Romantic and Modern eras), the instrument embodies the composer’s desire to merge new ideas with classic forms. It is perhaps via piano (and, by extension, keyboard) that performers and listeners can make the most direct and personal contact with Glass’ musical genius. Nicolas Horvath is an unusual artist with an unconventional résumé. He began his music studies at the Académie de Musique Prince Rainier III de Monaco, and at the age 16, he caught the attention of the American conductor Lawrence Foster who helped him to secure a three-year scholarship from the Princess Grace Foundation in order to further his studies. His mentors include a number of distinguished international pianists. Known for his boundary-less musical explorations, Horvath is an enthusiastic promoter of contemporary music. He has commissioned numerous works and collaborated with leading contemporary composers from around the world including Philip Glass.

Orange Mountain Music presents the world premiere recording of Philip Glass’ A Madrigal Opera performed by Finland’s Ooppera Skaala. Glass’ second opera after the hallmark Einstein on the Beach in 1975, A Madrigal Opera contains no narrative or subject matter. It is a work composed for future writers and directors to create in and around Glass score. The work is composed as for a traditional madrigal, with six voices with violin and viola accompaniment. The clean and dynamic Glass score from 1979 represented a huge musical step for the composer as he moved toward a more expressive idiom which later produced works like Satyagraha and Koyaanisqatsi.

The last days of the American icon Walt Disney form a powerful and poignant subject for Philip Glass's latest opera, which was filmed at its first performances in Madrid in January 2013. Phelim McDermott's spectacular production is worthy of Disney's own visual imagination and its definitive influence on American culture, while in the pit is the conductor Dennis Russell Davies, an experienced and authoritative champion of the composer's hypnotically beautiful music, which gives wings to Rudy Wurlitzer's operatic transformation of Peter Stephan Jungk's novel, using both fact and fiction to peer into Disney's troubled psyche as illness forces him to confront his mortality.

Philip Catherine is one of those musicians who, throughout a prolific career, has developed a unique and authentic sound. He only needs to play a single note to be instantly recognized. He is certainly one of the greats of Belgian and European jazz. The relationship between Philip and Flagey began almost twenty years ago. It was therefore only natural that the institution should organize a concert to celebrate his seventy-fifth birthday. Given carte blanche, he decided to propose a surprising line-up: two pianists, two drummers, a trumpet player, and of course a guitar, played by himself. The selection of pieces is just as original: he revisits the numbers that appeared on his very first recording, as well as more recent works and some cover versions. Listening to the album, one is struck by the youthful spirit that immediately makes us forget the generation to which he belongs. Here is Philip Catherine in all his authenticity, endearing, unpretentious, generous, witty and inspiring. A past master in the art of refined emotion.

Philip Catherine is one of those musicians who, throughout a prolific career, has developed a unique and authentic sound. He only needs to play a single note to be instantly recognised. He is certainly one of the greats of Belgian and European jazz. The relationship between Philip and Flagey began almost twenty years ago. It was therefore only natural that the institution should organise a concert to celebrate his seventy-fifth birthday.