“For the 2016-17 season, performing arts organizations had a trio of birthday celebrations, with minimalism pioneers Steve Reich and Philip Glass both turning 80 on Oct. 3, 2016, and Jan. 31, 2017, respectively,” writes Yoshi Kato ion Tuesday’s (2/21) Christian Science Monitor. “The San Francisco Symphony started its season last September with a week of Mr. Reich’s music, including his Three Movements for its opening night gala…. Throughout his birthday month of February, composer John Adams celebrated [turning 70] by having his works performed by top-notch orchestras. Mr. Adams was composer-in-residence with the San Francisco Symphony early on in his career.… And the SFS honored Adams’s birthday by programming his works over a three-week period, including having Adams curate a weekend at SFS’s popular in-house SoundBox space. In early March, the Los Angeles Philharmonic will present a new version of Adams’s seminal ‘Nixon in China’ opera, with Adams himself conducting. The St. Louis Symphony, New York Philharmonic and Chicago Symphony will also be presenting concerts dedicated to Adams’s compositions that month.” Dennis Russell Davies led the world premiere of Glass’s Symphony No. 11 with the Bruckner Linz Orchestra at Carnegie Hall on January 31, Glass’s 80th birthday.
Posted February 23, 2017
