Philip Glass Ensemble

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The Philip Glass Ensemble is a musical group founded by composer Philip Glass in 1968 to serve as a performance outlet for his experimental minimalist music. The Ensemble's instrumentation became a hallmark of Glass' early minimalist style. After Glass wrote his first opera, Einstein on the Beach, for the Ensemble in 1976, he began to compose for other instrumentation more frequently.

While the Ensemble's exact instrumentation has varied over the years, it has generally consisted of amplified woodwinds, keyboard synthesizers, and solo soprano voice (singing solfege). The Philip Glass Ensemble continues to perform and record, under the musical direction of keyboardist Michael Riesman.

[edit] Members

Michael Riesman, keyboards
Philip Glass, keyboards
Jon Gibson, woodwinds
Dan Dryden, audio engineer
Lisa Bielawa, voice
Andrew Sterman, woodwinds
Mick Rossi, percussion, keyboards
Frank Cassara, percussion
Stephen Erb, audio engineer
David Crowell, woodwinds

Martin Goldray, keyboards (retired)
Eleanor Sandresky, keyboards (retired)
Richard Peck, woodwinds (retired)
Jack Kripl, woodwinds (retired)
Richard Landry, woodwinds (retired)
Joan La Barbara, voice (retired)
Dora Ohrenstein, voice (retired)
Kurt Munkacsi, audio engineer (now producer)

[edit] Films

2008 - Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts. Directed by Scott Hicks.
1983 - Philip Glass. From Four American Composers. Directed by Peter Greenaway.