NASHER SCULPTURE CENTER PRESENTS WORLD RENOWNED AMERICAN COMPOSER PHILIP GLASS AT APRIL NASHERSALON
4/15/2008 12:00:00 AM
Tickets to April 17 Salon are available for purchase beginning Sunday, March 30
Dallas, Texas - The Nasher Sculpture Center announces highly revered and accomplished American composer Philip Glass as the featured guest at the April 17 NasherSalon. Tickets are $45 for adults ($40 for members) and will be available for purchase online at NasherSalonSeries.org or by calling 888.695.0888 beginning Sunday, March 30 at 10 am.
The Salon, presented by Museum Tower with media support by The Dallas Morning News, will take place at 8 pm in the intimate Nasher Auditorium and will be moderated by WFAA's John McCaa. The event will feature a solo piano performance by Glass at 8 pm followed by the Salon from 8:30 pm - 9:30 pm. Salon ticket holders may purchase a pre-Salon buffet dinner at Nasher Cafe by Wolfgang Puck for $25 per person by calling 214.242.5144.
A three-time Academy Award-nominated composer and winner of a Golden Globe, Philip Glass is considered one of the most influential musical artists of the 20th century. Glass has written numerous ensemble works, operas, symphonies, concertos, film scores, and solo works. Apart from his music career, Glass also worked as an assistant for the sculptor Richard Serra in the late 1960s. While living in Paris, the two friends often visited La Coupole to catch sculptor Alberto Giacometti at his favorite dining spot. Glass also assisted Serra on Cutting Device: Base Plate Measure (1969), a visceral demonstration of mind over matter.
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Glass studied at the University of Chicago and the Juilliard School. In the early 1960s, Glass spent two years of intensive study in Paris with the legendary composition teacher Nadia Boulanger. During his second year with Boulanger, Glass was commissioned to transcribe a film score by the sitar virtuoso and composer Ravi Shankar into Western notation for Parisian studio musicians.
After returning to New York in 1967, Glass formed the Philip Glass Ensemble and co-founded the Mabou Mines Theater Company in 1970. This period culminated in Music in Twelve Parts, followed by the landmark opera, Einstein on the Beach, created with Robert Wilson in 1976. This piece was praised by the Washington Post as "one of the seminal artworks of the century." Since Einstein on the Beach, Glass has expanded his repertoire to include music for opera, dance, theater, chamber ensemble, orchestra, and film.
In 1997, his score for Martin Scorsese's Kundun received an Academy Award nomination, while his score for Peter Weir's The Truman Show won him a Golden Globe the following year. His film score for Stephen Daldry's The Hours (2002) received Golden Globe, Grammy, and Academy Award nominations, along with winning a BAFTA in Film Music from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Most recently, Glass composed the original scores for the critically acclaimed films The Illusionist and Notes on a Scandal, garnering his third Academy Award nomination for the latter.
In 2004, Glass worked with six other international artists on Orion, which opened in Athens as part of the cultural celebration of the 2004 Olympics in Greece. Glass also premiered his Piano Concerto No. 2 (After Lewis and Clark) with the Omaha Symphony Orchestra. Premieres for 2005 included his Symphony No. 7 and Symphony No. 8, with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, and Bruckner Orchester Linz at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, respectively. Waiting for the Barbarians, an opera based on the book by J.M. Coetzee, premiered in September 2005 and was Glass' first opera on a grand scale in eight years. Glass' orchestral tribute to Indian spiritual leader Sri Ramakrishna, The Passion of Ramakrishna, premiered in 2006 at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.
Glass has also worked alongside Leonard Cohen on an adaptation of Cohen's poetry collection Book of Longing, which premiered in June 2007. Appomattox, an opera based on the surrender of Robert E. Lee to Ulysses S. Grant at the end of the Civil War, premiered at the San Francisco Opera on October 5, 2007. In April 2008, the Metropolitan Opera will mount a new production of Satyagraha, a 1980 work inspired by Mahatma Gandhi's early years as a lawyer and equal-rights advocate in South Africa.
Through his operas, symphonies, compositions for his own ensemble, and his wide-ranging collaborations with artists such as Paul Simon, Linda Ronstadt, Yo-Yo Ma, David Bowie, Woody Allen, and Doris Lessing, Philip Glass is one of the most innovative contemporary composers of his time. He presents lectures, workshops, and solo keyboard performances around the world, and continues to appear regularly with the Philip Glass Ensemble.
About the NasherSalon:
The NasherSalon series began in 2005 as a monthly forum held at the Nasher Sculpture Center to engage in discussions on topics relating to art in its various forms - sculpture, painting, music, and the culinary arts. In 2006, The Dallas Morning News signed on as the Salon's primary media partner, providing generous media support for publicity of the series, as well as experts from the news staff to share their insider knowledge and lead the conversations. The series, which was titled The Art of Urban Living, examined a range of topics germane to urban life - from entertaining and finding the best wines to the architectural evolvement of Dallas. The 2008 NasherSalon marks the third installment of the series and features the addition of presenting sponsor Museum Tower. Featuring internationally renowned speakers, this year's series provides an unmatched forum for intimate, intellectual conversation amidst the finest collection of modern and contemporary sculpture in the world. The NasherSalon takes place every month at the Nasher Sculpture Center and features nationally and internationally acclaimed speakers discussing topics relating to art, theater, dance, movies, and the culinary arts
NasherSalon Sponsors:
Presenting Sponsor: Museum Tower
Museum Tower is a 42-story luxury residential high-rise located in the heart of the Dallas Arts District between the Nasher Sculpture Center and Meyerson Symphony Center, among the works of four Pritzker Prize-winning architects. Museum Tower is designed by architect Scott Johnson. The contemporary tower will offer 122 residences in nine floorplans, ranging from an intimate 1,450-square-foot pied-à-terre to an 8,700-square-foot penthouse. The dramatic two- and three-bedroom interiors-created by Bodron+Fruit and Booziotis & Company Architects-will feature floor-to-ceiling glass, direct-access elevators, and outdoor terraces. Museum Tower will provide exceptional amenities, including outdoor pool, gallery, private gardens, concierge, and wellness services. Groundbreaking is scheduled for early 2008, with completion in late 2010. Museum Tower is being developed by Brook Partners, Inc. and Turtle Creek Holdings, Inc.
www.museumtowerdallas.com
Media Sponsor: The Dallas Morning News
The Dallas Morning News began publishing on Oct. 1, 1885. It is published by the oldest business institution in Texas, Belo Corp., which has chronicled Texas history for more than 160 years. The newspaper's daily circulation, which stood at 163,000 in 1950, grew to 368,000 in 1985, when it celebrated its Centennial. Circulation increased to nearly 515,000 in 1992 after the Dallas Times Herald ceased publication and Belo purchased its assets. Ten years later, those gains had been maintained and readership remained strong.
Airline Sponsor: American Airlines
American Airlines is the world's largest airline. American, American Eagle and the AmericanConnection® airlines serve 250 cities in over 40 countries with more than 4,000 daily flights. The combined network fleet numbers more than 1,000 aircraft.
Hotel Sponsor: Hotel Crescent Court
As culturally vibrant as the neighborhood in which it sits, Hotel Crescent Court, A Rosewood Hotel, is a refreshing experience of contrasts. Located within walking distance of the art, culture and energy of Dallas, the hotel consistently wins hearts and accolades as one of the best hotels in the United States. With a bold palette of colors, chic, newly renovated guestrooms, innovative New American cuisine at The Crescent Club, award winning Asian-fusion dishes from Nobu and the serenity of The Spa, Hotel Crescent Court offers discreet and professional service with Texas charm.
About the Nasher Sculpture Center:
Open since October 2003, the Nasher Sculpture Center is dedicated to the display and study of modern and contemporary sculpture. The Center is located on a 2.4 acre site adjacent to the Dallas Museum of Art in the heart of the Dallas Arts District. Renzo Piano, a world-renowned architect and winner of the prestigious Pritzker Prize in 1998, is the architect of the Center's 55,000 square foot building. Piano worked in collaboration with landscape architect Peter Walker on the design of the two-acre sculpture garden.
The Nasher Sculpture Center was the longtime dream of the late Raymond and Patsy Nasher, who together formed one of the finest collections of modern and contemporary sculpture in the world. The Raymond and Patsy Nasher Collection includes masterpieces by Calder, de Kooning, di Suvero, Giacometti, Hepworth, Kelly, Matisse, Miró, Moore, Picasso, Rodin, and Serra, among others, and continues to grow and evolve.
The Nasher Sculpture Center presents rotating exhibitions of works from the Nasher Collection as well as special exhibitions drawn from other museums and private collections. In addition to indoor gallery space, the Center contains an auditorium, education and research facilities, a cafe, and a store.
The Nasher Sculpture Center is open Tuesday through Sunday from 11am to 5 pm and on Thursday from 11am to 9 pm. Admission is $10 for adults, $7 for seniors, $5 for students, and free for members and children 12 and under. For more information, visit www.NasherSculptureCenter.org.
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For more information and photos, please contact:
Kristen Mills Gibbins
Communications Manager
214.242.5177
kgibbins@NasherSculptureCenter.org