Philip Glass: The 90th Birthday Concert

Philip Glass’s music has been part of New York’s soundscape for decades, and this concert falls on the day he turns 90 (born January 31, 1937). The program pairs a landmark score from the height of his concert-hall breakthrough with a brand-new symphony that turns to American history. Dennis Russell Davies—Glass’s longtime collaborator—leads the Orchestra, continuing a partnership that has shaped the performance life of many of Glass’s major works. Glass’s Violin Concerto No. 1 (1987) remains one of his most widely performed works: direct in its melodic writing, energized by pulsing rhythms, and shaped in a familiar three-movement arc. Commissioned by the American Composers Orchestra, it was premiered in New York City on April 5, 1987, with Paul Zukofsky as soloist and Davies conducting. Glass has said he wrote the piece with his late father in mind, a personal note that sits quietly beneath the music’s momentum. The evening concludes with the New York premiere of Symphony No. 15 “Lincoln” (2026), a 40-minute work for orchestra and solo baritone. Co-commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra and the Kennedy Center, draws on texts by Abraham Lincoln. Baritone Zachary James—who created the role of Abraham Lincoln in Glass’s opera The Perfect American—brings those words to life here, alongside violinist Robert McDuffie, for whom Glass later composed the Violin Concerto No. 2 (“The American Four Seasons”).