Glassworks & Early Works

Other Music

BOX OFFICE OPENING – 2026_2027 SEASON

June 18-21: exclusively for CCB Card holders

From June 22 onwards: general public

Since its founding in 1968, The Philip Glass Ensemble has been the principal interpreter and custodian of the work of one of the most influential composers of our time. In Early Works, the ensemble returns to the origins of Philip Glass's minimalist language, revisiting some of the pieces that defined a new way of thinking and listening to music. At the center of the program is Glassworks (1981), the work that introduced Philip Glass to a wider audience and marked a turning point in his career. Conceived as a studio album, it brings together six pieces for winds and keyboards in which melodic patterns repeat, transform and intertwine with hypnotic clarity and singular expressiveness. Works such as Opening and Façades remain among the composer's most emblematic creations. Under the musical direction of Michael Riesman, a longtime Glass collaborator, the ensemble recreates with remarkable precision the relentless pulse, layered textures and propulsive energy that became hallmarks of this aesthetic. More than a retrospective, Early Works is an immersive experience that reveals the strength and relevance of a music that profoundly transformed the musical landscape of recent decades.

Pre-concert conversation by Cesário Costa at 19:30.

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