Philip Glass Announces Worldwide 90th Birthday Season

Philip Glass will mark his 90th birthday on January 31, 2027 with a massive, multi-season global celebration spanning opera, symphonic performances, dance, theater, chamber music, and film.

The centerpiece is the world premiere of his Symphony No. 15: Lincoln — a work for baritone and orchestra drawn from Abraham Lincoln’s speeches and letters — on July 5, 2026 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood, with subsequent premieres through mid-2027 in New York, Los Angeles, Baltimore, and London. The season also marks the 50th anniversary of Einstein on the Beach, the seminal theater work Glass created with the late Robert Wilson, with anniversary programming including a European concert tour by ICTUS, Collegium Vocale Gent, and Suzanne Vega, and a new production directed by Phelim McDermott premiering June 2027 at Aviva Studios in Manchester.

Other highlights include the West End debut of Tao of Glass (July 25–September 12, 2026), the first revival of Waiting for the Barbarians since its 2005 premiere, and the Chicago premiere of The Juniper Tree at Chicago Opera Theater in May 2027. Dance programming spans Benjamin Millepied, Twyla Tharp, and Lucinda Childs, whose new choreography premieres at New York City Center in January 2027.

The January 31, 2027 birthday itself lands on two continents simultaneously: Orchestra of St. Luke’s performs at Carnegie Hall in New York, featuring Symphony No. 15, Violin Concerto No. 1, and an excerpt from The Voyage; Southbank Centre in London presents a full festival the same day.

One notable absence: Glass withdrew Symphony No. 15’s originally planned Kennedy Center premiere, citing a direct conflict between the institution’s current direction and the symphony’s message. Separately, Orange Mountain Music released Allen Ginsberg – One Hundred on May 15, a three-track EP built around a Glass sketch found tucked in a volume of Ginsberg’s poetry in the composer’s library.

Individual event tickets are available through presenting institutions. A full list of performances can be found at philipglass.com.

Philip Glass 90th Birthday Season Performances:
05/20–05/30 – Europe @ ICTUS (Einstein on the Beach)
05/21–05/23 – Toronto, Canada @ Toronto Symphony (Meetings Along the Edge)
05/23 – Augsburg, Germany @ Staatstheater Augsburg (La Belle et la Bête, runs through 01/07/27)
05/28 – Birmingham, United Kingdom @ City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
06/02 – Los Angeles, CA @ LA Dance Project (Koyaanisqatsi/City of Dance, runs through 06/21)
06/05 – Dublin, Ireland @ NCH
06/06 – Dublin, Ireland @ NCH
06/06 – Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Concertgebouw (Akhnaten)
06/09 – New York, NY @ Central Park (The Hours Suite)
06/11 – London, United Kingdom @ Royal Ballet (Tirol Concerto, runs through 06/20)
06/20 – Toronto, Canada @ PGE Luminato Festival
06/24 – Los Angeles, CA @ NYCB (Etudes, Wichita Vortex Sutra, runs through 06/26)
06/26 – Annandale-on-Hudson, NY @ Bard College (Passacaglia for Solo Piano, runs through 06/28)
07/03 – Stellenbosch, South Africa @ Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival (Violin Concerto No. 2)
07/05 – Lenox, MA @ BSO at Tanglewood (Symphony No. 15 — World Premiere)
07/10 – New York, NY @ Carnegie Hall (Symphony No. 1, runs through 07/11)
07/12 – London, United Kingdom @ Southbank Centre (Magic Psalm)
07/22 – Lenox, MA @ Tanglewood (Complete Piano Etudes)
07/25 – London, United Kingdom @ Tao of Glass West End (runs through 09/12)
07/31 – Santa Cruz, CA @ Cabrillo Festival (Symphony No. 15)
08/12 – Chicago, IL @ Grant Park Music Festival (Violin Concerto No. 1)
09/05 – Lyon, France @ Opéra de Lyon (Lucinda Childs DANCE, runs through 09/10)
09/12 – Houston, TX @ Performing Arts Houston (Complete Piano Etudes)
09/16 – Rome, Italy @ PGE Romaeurope Festival (Powaqqatsi Live to Film)
09/18 – Stockholm, Sweden @ PGE Cirkus (Glassworks and Early Works)
09/20 – Copenhagen, Denmark @ Royal Danish Academy of Music (Glassworks and Early Works)
09/25 – Newport News, VA @ Virginia Symphony (Symphony No. 15, runs through 09/27)
09/26 – Netherlands @ Nederlandse Reisopera (Waiting for the Barbarians, runs through 10/31)
10/02 – The Hague, Netherlands @ Residentie Orkest den Haag (Mishima Concerto)
10/09 – Oslo, Norway @ Norwegian National Ballet (Tirol Concerto, runs through 10/24)
10/10 – Hamburg, Germany @ Elbphilharmonie (1000 Airplanes on the Roof)
10/13 – Paris, France @ Paris Philharmonie (Violin Concerto No. 1)
10/15 – Philadelphia, PA @ Philadelphia Ballet (In the Upper Room, runs through 10/18)
10/24 – Miami, FL @ New World Symphony (Violin Concerto No. 1, runs through 10/25)
10/30 – Stanford, CA @ Stanford Live (Hydrogen Jukebox, Magic Psalm)
11/01 – Charleston, SC @ Gaillard Center (Complete Piano Etudes)
11/20 – Berkeley, CA @ Cal Performances (Complete Piano Etudes)
12/04 – Vancouver, Canada @ Vancouver Symphony (Violin Concerto No. 1)
12/16 – Munich, Germany @ Munich Philharmonic (Violin Concerto No. 1, runs through 12/18)
01/08 – Charleston, SC @ Charleston Symphony (Violin Concerto No. 1, runs through 01/09)
01/09 – Berlin, Germany @ Komische Oper (Akhnaten, runs through 02/20)
01/14 – Brno, Czechia @ Brno Filharmonie (Symphony No. 6, runs through 01/15)
01/14 – New York, NY @ New York City Center (Another Look at Harmony Part IV, runs through 01/16)
01/21 – Denver, CO @ Colorado Symphony
01/27 – San Francisco, CA @ SF Performances Pivot Festival (runs through 01/29)
01/28 – Malmö, Sweden @ Malmö Symfoniorkester (Symphony No. 1)
01/30 – The Hague, Netherlands @ Amare
01/31 – New York, NY @ Carnegie Hall (90th Birthday Concert)
01/31 – London, United Kingdom @ Southbank Centre (Glass Birthday Festival)
02/03 – Paris, France @ Théâtre du Châtelet (La Belle et la Bête, runs through 02/11)
02/03 – London, United Kingdom @ Barbican Centre (Dance Nos. 1–5)
02/11 – Boston, MA @ Boston Symphony Orchestra (runs through 02/13)
02/18 – Manitoba, Canada @ Manitoba Chamber Orchestra
02/19 – Osaka, Japan @ Japan Century Symphony Orchestra (Symphony No. 8)
02/24 – Los Angeles, CA @ Walt Disney Hall (Víkingur Ólafsson)
02/24 – Manitoba, Canada @ Manitoba Chamber Orchestra (Violin Concerto No. 2)
02/25 – Leipzig, Germany @ Gewandhausorchester (runs through 02/26)
02/28 – Boston, MA @ Symphony Hall (Víkingur Ólafsson)
02/28 – Munich, Germany @ Munich Philharmonic (String Quartet No. 2)
03/02 – New York, NY @ Carnegie Hall (Víkingur Ólafsson)
03/09 – Minneapolis, MN @ Northrop (Koyaanisqatsi Live to Film)
03/12 – Los Angeles, CA @ LA Philharmonic at Walt Disney Hall (runs through 03/13)
03/13 – Vienna, Austria @ Wiener Staatsoper (In the Upper Room, runs through 04/05)
03/27 – Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Dutch National Ballet (Metamorphosis 1–5, runs through 04/04)
04/02 – Aix-en-Provence, France @ Munich Philharmonic (Violin Concerto No. 1, runs through 04/04)
04/25 – Philadelphia, PA @ Penn Live Arts (Koyaanisqatsi Live to Film)
05/19 – Chicago, IL @ Chicago Opera Theater (The Juniper Tree, runs through 05/23)
05/25 – New York, NY @ Metropolitan Opera (Akhnaten excerpt)
05/27 – Paris, France @ Philharmonie de Paris (Cocteau Trilogy, runs through 05/29)
05/31 – Chicago, IL @ Chicago Symphony (The Light)
06/04 – Baltimore, MD @ Baltimore Symphony (Symphony No. 15, runs through 06/06)
06/07 – Paris, France @ Philharmonie de Paris (Maki Namekawa)
06/10 – Vienna, Austria @ Volksoper Wien Ballet (Tirol Concerto, runs through 06/26)
06/26 – Vienna, Austria @ Musikverein Wien (Víkingur Ólafsson)
06/29 – Hamburg, Germany @ Elbphilharmonie (Víkingur Ólafsson)
06/2027 – Manchester, United Kingdom @ Aviva Studios (Einstein on the Beach, new production)