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MSRI in collaboration with San Francisco Performances
presents
From Einstein to Koyaanisqatsi: Philip Glass in conversation with Robert Osserman
Saturday, February 18, 2006
2:00pm to 3:00pm
Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco | Philip Glass brings the Philip Glass Ensemble for a live performance accompanying the three films of the Qatsi trilogy on February 17, 18, and 19 at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, sponsored by San Francisco Performances.  Pictured: Naqoyqatsi Screen Shot with the Philip Glass Ensemble performing live. Photo Credit: Adam Craven. | | | | Tickets to the Conversation with Philip Glass are $10 and are available from TicketWeb. They are free with the purchase of a "Glass Pass" to the three performances. | | |  Philip Glass entered the University of Chicago at age 15, majoring in mathematics and philosophy. From there he went on to the Julliard School in New York, and to Paris, where he continued his studies with Nadia Boulanger and then worked with Ravi Shankar. All of those influences have left their traces, and as a great innovator and a pioneer of the minimalist movement, Philip Glass became one of the most influential and prolific composers of our time. In addition to his eight symphonies and a great variety of chamber works, Glass is well known for his avant-garde approach to theater, film, opera and dance. From his first opera, Einstein on the Beach, to the recent Galileo Galilei, he has chosen notable figures and events as his subjects, while his many works for cinema include scores for major Hollywood films such as The Truman Show, Kundun, The Fog of War, The Hours, and The Thin Blue Line. Among his best-known films are a number of more experimental ones, including the famous "Qatsi" trilogy, Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi, and Naqoyqatsi. | | | | Robert Osserman is Special Projects Director of MSRI and Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at Stanford University. Before joining MSRI he was Mellon Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at Stanford. He is the author of the essay, Rational and Irrational: Music and Mathematics, as well as the book Poetry of the Universe: A Mathematical Exploration of the Cosmos, in which composers and mathematicians also play a role. | | | 
Pictured: Godfrey Reggio, film-maker and long-time collaborator of Philip Glass. Their first joint venture, the feature film Koyaanisqatsi or "Life out of Balance" appeared in 1983 to popular and critical acclaim. It was followed by Powaqqatsi, "Life in Transformation" in 1988, and Naqoyqatsi or "Life as War" in 2002, both of which garnered further awards. Their short film Anima Mundi was commissioned by the Italian jewelry firm Bulgari for the World Wide Fund for Nature. |
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