Philip Glass and the Making of an Opera

Acclaimed behind-the-scenes documentary profile of the modern classical and opera composer Phillip Glass, as he talks about both his theatre and opera work.

Philip Glass is a rare thing: a modern, minimalist composer who has nevertheless accrued a wide-ranging public appeal. Widely acknowledged as one of the few composers who has brought art music to the public, his work is probably best known from his film scores, which have included movies such asThe Truman Show, The Hours, Notes on a Scandal and The Illusionist. His music for theatre is perhaps less well-known, since film naturally tends to reach a larger audience, but includes compositions for theatre adaptations of Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis and various works by Samuel Beckett, including Endgame.

His work is also influenced by and in turn influences a number of other musical genres, not least rock, electronic and world music, and he counts David Bowie, Brian Eno, Ravi Shankar and Aphex Twin among his friends and collaborators.

This acclaimed documentary profile, which was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, sees Glass talking candidly about his life and work, and in particular his opera Akhnaten. Akhnaten was the third in his 'Portrait ' trilogy of studies on men who changed the world, which began with Einstein on the Beach, and continued with Satyagraha, a meditation and homage to Mahatma Ghandi and his experiences in South Africa.

Akhnaten, by contrast, is about the life and religion of the eponymous Egyptian pharaoh. Legend has it that the piece, commissioned by Stuttgart Opera, had to be premiered in a smaller theatre since the Stuttgart Opera House was being renovated. The replacement theatre's orchestra pit was too small to accommodate all of the violins however, so Glass took them out, giving the piece a low, dark sound for which it earned much praise.

This is a revealing look at the work and working methods of one of our great modern composers, and features a wealth of honest anecdotes, not least from the conductor who likens the impact of playing Glass's music as a form of torture for musicians, and recounts the story of an orchestra in Holland who rebelled and refused to play the third act of a piece before being forced back into the orchestra pit by an order from Holland's Supreme Court.