Robert Wilson and Philip Glass's Einstein on the Beach returns for the first time in 20 years with the launch of a major international tour, starting with preview performances at the Power Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan, this weekend. These mark the first North American presentations ever held outside of New York City. "It's only January, but the classical music event of the year is already upon us," exclaims the Detroit Free Press. "Glass and Wilson strip down the fundamentals of movement, image, text and music to essentials and then elevate their essence to operatic grandeur ... It's hard to overestimate the impact of Einstein on American music, art and culture."
Director Robert Wilson and composer Philip Glass and Einstein on the Beach—the 1993 Nonesuch Records recording of which has just been reissued—returns for the first time in 20 years with the launch of a major international tour, starting with three preview performances at the Power Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan, this weekend. These mark the first North American presentations ever held outside of New York City. "It's only January, but the classical music event of the year is already upon us," exclaims the Detroit Free Press in a preview of the weekend's momentous event.
"In Einstein," writes Free Press staff writer Mark Stryker, "Glass and Wilson strip down the fundamentals of movement, image, text and music to essentials and then elevate their essence to operatic grandeur."
Stryker spoke with the composer about the groundbreaking work and its roots in the New York's downtown arts scene of the 1960s and '70s. "[T]he true magic of Einstein," writes Stryker, "is that it crystallized a remarkable era in downtown New York's cultural life in which the borders between avant-garde music, visual art, theater, dance and performance art dissolved into nothingness."
"None of my friends wanted to be second generation Stockhausens," says Glass. "We preferred to be first generation Steve Reichs, John Adamses and Louis Andriessens."
For his part, Stryker explains: "It's hard to overestimate the impact of Einstein on American music, art and culture. The opera catapulted Glass to fame, launching his march from cult status to mainstream currency. It also represented a coming-out party for minimalism, the most widely influential movement in classical music in the last third of the 20th Century, with tentacles reaching into art rock, jazz, film music and even techno."
Read the interview at freep.com.
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Glass and Wilson got together at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor last Sunday to discuss Einstein on the Beach with moderator Anne Bogart. Read what they had to say about their collaboration in the AnnArbor.com coverage of the event.
In a separate article at AnnArbor.com, Michael Kondziolka, the production/programming director of the University Musical Society, which is presenting this weekend's shows, discusses the ins and outs of making such a special production happen. “It’s such an iconic work on so many different levels," Kondziolka tells the site staff writer Jenn McKee, "that we wanted to make sure we were helpful in bringing it to the stage for what may be the last time."
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Einstein on the Beach will head next to Montpellier, France, in March for its official world premiere at Opéra Berlioz / Le Corum; followed by performances at Teatro Valli in Reggio Emilia, Italy; Barbican Theatre in London; Sony Centre in Toronto; BAM Opera House in Brooklyn; Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley; Teatro del Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City; and, one year from now, Het Muziektheater in Amsterdam. For additional details and ticket links, go to nonesuch.com/on-tour.
To coincide with the international tour and Glass’s 75th birthday, Nonesuch has reissued its 1993 recording of Einstein on the Beach, which the Washington Post wrote is "more complete than the first recording and superior in both performance and sound." To pick up a copy of the three-CD set, head to the Nonesuch Store now.
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